ParentHoods Nightmare
by Final fantasy gamer
Summary: Due to Hojo's medelling and a series of unforeseen events Sephiroth is thrown into his personal Nightmare known as Parenthood. How will he deal with a fairly stubborn toddler, parties, shopping, days out, alongside tantrums and Zack? Thank you Matrineal!
1. Chapter 1

A small baby lay in the arms of her dying mother.

She was holding her baby so tightly, afraid that the scientists surrounding her would rip it away.

She breathed her last breath as Hojo stepped forwards, to weak to say the words running through her fragile mind. _'Get away!'_ Her thoughts screamed as all the air in her lungs returned to the planet.

"Such a terrible specimen to lose!" Hojo disappointingly cried out, shaking his head as the crying baby was taken out of the thin dead arms of her mother.

"Oh well, nothing ventured…nothing gained…" He suddenly began to laugh like a lunatic, and the world looked a much darker place

**5 YEARS LATER**

Hojo named the baby girl Miley, and raised her to be in absolute fear of him; he hoped that he could somehow persuade 'the Great General Sephiroth', his son, to train her, so Shinra may someday have another super-soldier.

Even though he claimed to have 'raised Miley', she had spent most of her life in a tiny Mako tank, filled with a strange experimental red fluid, preventing her from aging physically and mentally her entire current lifetime. She had been comatose and sealed inside the tank whilst a small part of her mind remained active.

When scientists dragged her out of the tank, it was always for more mentally tormenting experiments, and she was usually so scared that she would pull her hair and rock back and forth, muttering, and screaming.

Less to say, Hojo sadistically liked this, for what he called 'scientific' reasons.

The experiments were different from what he performed on other people and creatures.

He liked to test her intelligence. He knew that she did not know the answers to his questions, but he still asked them, sometimes for hours a day, insisting that she revise the alphabet and difficult sums, things she did not know or understand and never heard of.

Miley was an incredibly nervous and emotional child around Hojo, since he was always threatening her.

The reason Hojo had never experimented on her with knifes or dissection; was because he wanted her in perfect condition for Sephiroth.

"Miley!" Hojo called angrily. He had been in a bad mood all day since his experiment had gone completely wrong after months of hard work.

Miley was sitting on the cold stone floor in her filthy cell, scribbling on the walls with a white chalk.

The room was made of brick, with no windows, and a steel door that she never walked out of, even when it was open as it was that day.

Her bed was a thin, small, torn, and damp rag that stank of urine and waste.

There was a small steel bowl and a wooden spoon lying on the floor, both had mould growing on them and the spoon was splintered and rotting away from the food collected over the months; they had never been washed, making Miley extremely ill at times.

She was not really drawing anything, but just scribbling. Even she did not know what she was drawing. After all, she had never been outside, or seen flowers, or houses, or other children, so her mind could not really expand. Her pictures were the same as her head, one large curious, confused, jumbled scribble.

Hojo stormed into the room, and forced Miley off the floor by her skinny, pale arm, white from the lack of sun, skin tightly hugging the bone from the lack of food over the years.

He shook her back and forth making her scream and cry.

"Today is not a good day, so behave yourself!" Hojo yelled, lifting his hand to slap her as he always did when he was angry.

His hand stopped in mid-air, just before it collided with her small crying face.

A moment later Hojo finally spoke. "I have someone coming here to see you. I expect you to be on your best behaviour." Then he walked away, leaving Miley in the room to cry.

Miley was terrified of Hojo, more than any other child was. He was taller than she was, stronger, in control of her entire life, and so scary…not to mention clinically insane.

She was always afraid of what he was going to do to her. He often threatened that if Sephiroth would not train her, then he would experiment and torture her until she died.

Miley had no real experience of death, when she had asked Hojo what death was, he showed her by giving her a little white rabbit from his lab to love and nurture for two weeks.

When Miley had grown attached to the nameless rabbit, Hojo took the creature and Miley into one of his main lab rooms with Miley running after him, screaming for him to give her pet back.

In that lab, Hojo had slowly killed the rabbit. Cutting its snowy white ears off and then slicing it open until it died from pain and blood-loss.

Miley sobbed the entire time and begged him to stop. Then he told her _that_ was what death was, and that he would do the same thing to her, when he no longer needed her, then began laughing like a maniac.

Miley sobbed loudly as she stood in the centre of the room rubbing her eyes with her closed fists, afraid that Hojo would find her crying and punish her.

A young man walked into the room. With black pointed hair, blue eyes, and wearing a Soldier's uniform.

Miley did not realise that he was there until he bent down beside her.

"Hey... What's wrong with you, huh?" He asked her, very kindly with much care in his voice, a tone Miley had only heard a few times by a man hired to teach her how to talk, he had gotten too close to her and gave her comfort, so he was fired. He was also the person that gave her the chalk.

Miley looked up, panicked, and then backed against a wall, still crying as she attempted to clutch onto the bricks with her tiny fingernails.

"Go 'way!" She screamed, her words followed by many sobs.

After crying loudly; to the point where her sobs became shrieks and screams mixed with- and between- sobs, Hojo walked in, hunched over with his hands behind his back like they usually were.

He was followed by a tall silver-haired man, known as Sephiroth, whom entered the room calmly, and UN-phased by the noise.

"What happened?" Hojo questioned coldly, in his creepy, agitated voice.

Sephiroth stood a few steps behind Hojo, while looking at the child curiously with his feline eyes.

She was only the height of a very small two-year-old, and looked completely starved with all her ribs and bone showing through the thin material of a withered, filthy green dress.

Her legs were so twig-like her black tights hung on her.

She really was a walking skeleton. It felt as if he had walked into a death camp with this little girl residing there as a lone survivor.

"When I came in the room the little angel was crying." Zack began; his voice still soft so he would not scare Miley anymore, yet loud so he could talk over her cries.

"I asked her what was wrong and she went all hysterical." He was still bending down to look at her, and had his hand on her shoulder, attempting to stroke her hair every few seconds as he cooed over her.

"Stand up Zack." Sephiroth muttered, irritated, while walking to the wall with the scribbles printed on it.

"Is THIS what you wanted us to see?" He asked Hojo, sounding annoyed as he pointed at Miley.

Miley looked up at the tall man from where she was crouched down in the corner. She was still crying and sobbing, and only showed her face once Zack stood up and walked towards Sephiroth.

"This girl _could_ have some of your_ unique _Soldier enchantments. The reason I called you here was to request that you _train_ this girl to the best of your ability's." Hojo grinned at Sephiroth, who was looking incredibly annoyed at that moment.

"Ridiculous..." Sephiroth mumbled, looking at Hojo. "That's absolutely... ridiculous. This child will _never_ have _anything_ to do with me. I've no time for children. And even if I did, she's female; the only females in Soldier are Turks and secretaries. Soldier is made of men. The youngest are fourteen and _must_ have the correct build. Look at her," Sephiroth turned his head towards the little girl. "She's pitiful."

"Then you won't do it?"

Sephiroth said nothing, and did not move; that was enough of an answer.

"You know what that means… Don't you Miley?" Hojo teased tauntingly at the little girl.

She was looking up at him with big scared eyes and her small hands clenched under them.

She instantly began to panic, screaming and crying words repeatedly, that no one could understand.

"Are you saying that you _want_ to train?" Sephiroth asked her curiously, yet sounding as if he were speaking to an adult, towering over Miley who had curled herself up into a ball and continued to cry.

After he got no answer Sephiroth frowned and was about to walk away, but Zack stopped him.

"Come on Seph..." He said in a low voice. "She's only small. _And you don't want to leave her around Psycho scientist do ya'?" _Zack whispered, and then knelt in front of Miley.

"Not _that_ scary am I?" He asked her kindly while smiling and pointing to his face.

Miley gave no answer.

"Come on, what's wrong?"

"Hurry up." Sephiroth coldly growled turning around again to walk out the room.

"DonwablewiH-Hogo…" Came the small coughed out sob from the quivering girl.

Sephiroth stopped to listen.

"Huh? What was that about a Hogo?" Zack asked quietly, putting his hand to his ear in hopes to hear her better.

"Don'lea'm'wi'Hodo!" **(Do not leave me with Hojo…!)** She screamed; her voice full of panic; begs and fear.

Zack still could not make any sense of her words, but Sephiroth knew what she had said after a few moments of translating in his head.

"Come here." He gruffly sighed with his eyes closed, as though he were dreading something.

Miley did not get up.

"Don't make me come to you." The shaky child stood and toddled to him, still rubbing the tears out of her eyes.

"I think we best leave and get you ready for what's to come." Hojo grinned, bearing his yellow teeth.

Before Sephiroth could ask Miley his questions, Hojo had grabbed hold of Miley's wrist and was attempting to drag her from the room.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, trying to hold onto Sephiroth's long coat. "D-don' hur'…!" **(Do not hurt me…!) **

Miley ran behind Sephiroth's leg after managing to pull her arm from Hojo's grip and looked as if she was trying to hide behind the thick, smooth leather.

Miley gripped Sephiroth's leg tighter as Hojo continued to try to pull her away.

"Zack, look after the girl." Sephiroth pried Miley's hand from his jacket and leg. "Hojo, a word," Sephiroth said, his tone sounding almost dark and demanding.

He walked out the cell with Hojo following him and stopped once they were in the hallway.

"First, who is she?" He asked strictly.

Hojo grinned and laughed. "If I told you, you'd tear me to pieces."

This made Sephiroth more curious and frustrated.

"Let's just say that you're HIGHLY related."

"Just say it." He growled.

Hojo's eyes filled with a sinister look, and the corners of the mouth pulled up into a cruel smile.

"You're daughter." He spoke clearly and sounded as if he was telling one of the biggest secrets he had. Yet his words held no guilt. If anything, they sounded proud.

Sephiroth looked shocked and took a few steps back. He did not know what to say except: "H-How?" His eyes were wide, turning them into a beautiful shape.

"That Cetra woman you were so fond of." He started to laugh again. "Either you were inexperienced or just foolish."

Even though Sephiroth wanted to know how Hojo brought Katie to the lab, he did not ask. He knew that he could not kill him, so there was no point in knowing.

"What are you going to do with the child once we're gone?" He asked with anger in his eyes, like fire. "Use her as another one of your _test_ subjects?" He growled and spat through grit teeth.

Hojo still had the smile on his wrinkled face. Sephiroth desperately wanted to take Masamune and slice it off.

"She knows what's going to happen to her. She watched it happen to her beloved pet."

Sephiroth spun around and stormed back into the room with heavy footsteps, walking away was the only way he wouldn't murder the man.

Zack was holding Miley; he rubbed her back as she hiccupped.

He was standing, rocking back and forth as he held the toddler.

She had finally calmed down, and was only muttering occasionally now.

When she began panicking, or worrying, Zack instantly comforted her and held her closer, letting her get some fear out of her system.

Miley had never been held like this before, even when she felt as scared as this, it was nice. Only one person had held her before, and even then, it was only on his lap, he had not been allowed to hug or comfort her in any way.

Sephiroth stood in the doorway with a scowl on his face "We're leaving!" He shouted angrily, then turned and stormed from the room, his loud footsteps echoing loudly down the hall. "We're taking the girl with us!" He called as he carried on walking.

Zack followed with confusion on his face as he carried Miley, she was just as, if not MORE confused than he was.

"You're _actually_ going to train this girl? That will be the first time you've changed your mind after saying no." Hojo said as Sephiroth walked past him; and only stopped to answer.

"No. There's an orphanage in Midgar." Then he continued walking again.

Zack caught up with him and they quietly walked together.

"Hey, Seph," Zack spoke, breaking the silence as they walked down the metallic stairs. "What made you take her with us?"

Sephiroth sighed silently. "Hojo can be very cruel to his _test_ subjects. That's why."

"So you're saying that you're _rescuing_ her?"

Sephiroth turned his head and nodded hesitantly as they reached the last floor and stood by the automatic glass doors with the Shinra symbol printed on them.

"She's going into an orphanage… where she'll be taken care of." Sephiroth said in reply as the doors glided open.

Zack frowned. "Do her _parents _know she's here?"

Sephiroth sighed again. Zack either had heard his conversation with Hojo or was asking an honest question.

"You'd think that a _responsible_ parent would look after _his _child."

"I know what you're trying to get at Zack." Sephiroth replied as they strolled outside.

"W-where...g-going?" Miley asked as Zack set her on the ground.

Zack smiled down at her. "All the way to Midgar, there's a really big building, it's where we live. I'm going to try and get your dad to let you live with him."

Miley looked confused.

"What? You want to ask me something?"

"Wha' a...uh...a dad…?" **(What is a dad?)** She asked in a quiet voice, her throat still sore from sobbing so loudly.

Her voice was cute, as high-pitched as any other toddler's voice would be.

This made Sephiroth think more of what her up bringing must have been.

Five year olds were _not _supposed to talk like this, or _look_ like this for that matter.

"You don't know what a dad is!" Zack loudly exclaimed, surprised.

His voice made Miley's eyes water, since it was the tone that Hojo used when she did not get a question right.

Miley sobbed quietly as her bottom lip began to quiver, and she began to cry.

"Uh... It's alright Miley!" Zack shouted quickly, trying to calm her down before she could start _really_ crying again. "I wasn't angry! I was just… surprised!"

Sephiroth turned around and frowned at her. "Stop crying." He demanded.

Miley looked up at the tall man.

"You're away from him now, so there's no need to cry."

"Now you see Miley, _that's_ a dad." Zack smiled pointing to Sephiroth.

After wiping her red and swollen blue eyes again, Miley slowly and shyly walked to Sephiroth, tugged on his coat, and looked up at him with big eyes.

"You' dad…?" **(You are a dad…?)** She asked him, her voice quiet and shaking with a shy curiosity.

Sephiroth glared at Zack for telling her; but nodded all the same.

"Wha' you?" **(What are you?)** She asked, looking at Zack who laughed.

"Your Uncle Zack!" He told her proudly. He had never had anyone ask him _what_ he was, even when he was in Gongaga with his parents.

Miley looked confused. "Wha' I?" **(What am I?)**

Zack laughed again. "You're Miley! My little friend… and _his_ daughter…!" He pointed at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and walked further away, waiting for Zack and Miley to follow.

Sephiroth looked at Miley.

She was looking at her surroundings with a confused look in her eye, a little fear too.

"What? You act like you haven't seen the sky before." Sephiroth said.

"Wha' sky?" **(What's the sky?)**

'_What sort of a life has she had?' _Sephiroth wondered. _'To not even know what the sky is…'_

"Why did Miley cry when you said you wouldn't train her?" Zack asked Sephiroth, turning to face the large Grey building they had just exited.

"You really don't want to know." Sephiroth replied turning to face him.

"So, we travelled three days for nothing?"

Sephiroth nodded.

"That guy owes me money." Zack complained, putting his hands in his empty pockets.

He had spent all his money on petrol and sandwiches. Reno was in a bad mood with him and had refused to fly them there in the helicopter.

Miley was looking around when something small and furry with stripes, licking one of its furry paws caught her eye.

"W-wha'' tha'?" **(What is that?)** Miley asked anxiously, and ran behind Sephiroth to hide.

Sephiroth looked at her and sighed with his eyes dramatically closed. "It's a _cat_. Didn't Hojo teach you your animals?"

Miley looked up at him. "Wha' an ani-na-ma-mial…?" **(What is an Animal?)**

Zack sighed and smiled. "Your dad will tell you later. I'm SURE he'd LOVEEEEEE to." He drawled; bending down and putting his hands on her shoulders, thinking it was about time Miley had some proper human contact.

Sephiroth frowned. "Don't lie Zack. They'll teach her in the orphanage." He retorted, walking towards the black car and opening the back door for Miley to get in.

"Miley!" Sephiroth called, sounding angry, causing her to look at him and stop starring at the cat and trying to touch its tail.

Miley looked up at Sephiroth's face as he stood by the car in a fowl mood.

She was crouched behind the cat, not understanding what the moving thing coming from the bottom of its back was and wondering why she did not have one.

Each time she tried to grab the long furry striped thing it moved, wagged, and the cat would look at her before lying on its side, spreading its body across the cold ground.

She slowly walked to the car and was very resistant to get in.

She instead looked inside while poking her head out from behind her father's leg.

"What is it now?" Sephiroth grumbled.

"W-wha' i'?" **(What is it?)**

"It's a car. Now get inside!"

"B-bu' wha' i' hur' me…?" **(But what if it hurts me?)**

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and picked Miley up roughly by her wrists then flung her in and slammed the door shut.

Then he got in the drivers seat next to Zack. Grateful that he was a General, so no one would complain that Miley was not in a child's seat.

Sephiroth started the engine and drove away from the building.

They had been driving for almost an hour. Miley was on her knees and starring out of the window, asking questions about everything she saw. Everything she saw was new to her.

Zack was asking Sephiroth who Miley's mother was, and if he knew why Miley was with Hojo in the first place.

Sephiroth was trying, and failing, to control his temper.

"Did you know you had a daughter?" Zack questioned.

"No." The angry Sephiroth replied.

"Do you know why her mother was there?"

"No." He growled through grit teeth.

"You must've had a hard life to want to put Miley in an orphan—" Sephiroth spun the car skilfully against the pavement, causing it to swerve and terrify the teen and toddler.

As it came to a halt, Miley tumbled onto the floor.

"Zack…! Shut up!" Sephiroth yelled, shocking Zack, and making Miley jump.

"Miley's going into the first orphanage I find! And you can do NOTHING to change my mind!"

Zack was taken back at what he said, and looked over his shoulder at the small silent child.

Miley did not know what an orphanage was, but she did NOT want to go.

Sephiroth started the car again, and drove off hoping it would be in silence this time.

"Wha' orpanick-gee?" **(What's an orphanage?)** Miley asked, mispronouncing the word.

There was no answer.

It came to be nine O'clock at night, and a veil of darkness had thrown itself over the world.

Sephiroth stopped the car outside an Inn and un-strapped himself from the car seat.

"She's asleep, isn't she?" Sephiroth moaned quietly, looking up into the cars mirror to see the sleeping girl who was lying on her front on the back seats.

Zack looked behind the car seat so he could see Miley. "Yeah…" He whispered, smiling when Miley turned over in her sleep and rubbed her eyes unconsciously.

"Hey, Seph,"

Sephiroth looked at him.

"You sure you want to send her to an orphanage?"

"Zack, I would _kill her_. I don't _want_ a child." He told him honestly.

Sephiroth opened the car door, got out, and then proceeded to open the cars back door so he could get Miley out.

Zack watched Sephiroth carefully get Miley out, desperately trying not to wake her up. He became a little gentler when she began to stir.

"But then again," Zack said, causing Sephiroth to turn and look at him.

Miley's small head rested on Sephiroth's large chest as she sat on his arm and lent against him, his other hand on her back so she would not fall.

"You might enjoy being a father."

Sephiroth ignored him and walked inside the Inn, not willing to listen.

The small reception had a plain dark wood floor with a small piece of carpet laid neatly in front of the desk, covered with papers and books.

There was a small cabinet with fliers advertising 'The Gold Saucer' and 'Costa Del Sol'. Also resting on it was a lit lamp with a floral lamp-shade and a few strange-shaped bottles.

There was a door leading to a dinning-room where guests could eat, much like a Bed & Breakfast, there was another door leading to a sitting room.

"Three rooms..." Sephiroth ordered in a tired voice to the desk attendant, and put thirty Gil on the desk. Somehow managing to hold Miley at the same time.

"Sorry sir, we only have one room." The woman apologized. "But it does have three single beds."

"That will do." Sephiroth replied, shifting Miley onto his hip.

The desk attendant nodded. "Its room two," She handed Zack the keys since Sephiroth obviously had his arms full.

"Please enjoy your stay." She said, bowing slightly before a middle-aged woman arrived behind the desk; she had come from the room behind them.

"Will ya' need anything for the girl?" She asked, with a strong cockney accent. "The poor thing'll freeze if ya' let' 'er go 'round like 'that." She told them, referring to Miley's ripped, filthy, dark green dress and laddered tights, also covered in holes.

"And when was the last time she had a decent meal?" She put a hand on her hip and walked forwards.

The younger woman rolled her eyes in embarrassment.

"She looks like she ain't eaten in days."

"Don't criticize them mother." The younger woman hushed.

Sephiroth and Zack walked to their room, Zack was trying not to laugh at the argument he could hear.

"Zack…" Sephiroth said in a warning tone, signalling towards the door.

Zack unlocked it and walked inside.

The room looked comfortable; it had an old wooden floor that had a few old mats by each side of the two beds, very pale red walls that were decorated with pictures.

Each bed had a bedside table next to it that had a lamp and coaster on them, there was a big window with dark blue curtains, and a door that led to a small bathroom. It was cosy, to say in the least.

"This is nice." Zack said contently, laying on one of the beds with his arms behind his head.

Sephiroth took Miley to her bed and put her under the covers.

"You're not gonna undress her?"

Sephiroth glared. "No," came his rough reply. "I'm going downstairs for a drink."

Zack frowned. "And you're leaving her in here?" He gawked.

"She's obviously used to being alone."

"Seph'…you _can't_ leave _kids_ in a **room**, _strange place_ or _anywhere else on their own_." He explained, sounding comical as he spoke each individual word forcefully while banging his fist on the mattress.

"Fine," Sephiroth turned and opened the door. "You take care of her then." And then he left, leaving Zack to sigh and wonder how good a father Sephiroth would make.

Miley woke up that night after having a terrifying nightmare of Hojo. She looked at Sephiroth, who was sleeping on his side in his bed. He had come upstairs after an hour and climbed in bed.

So sliding off her bed, she walked towards her fathers, climbed under his covers, and curled up next to him.

Snuggling down into the warmth, she began to drift off to sleep.

"What are you doing?" He questioned her, gruffly and harshly in anger and tiredness.

"I have'd bad 'fing." Miley sniffed not knowing the word for dream or nightmare.

"A bad...thing...?"

Miley nodded.

"This is MY bed." He told her, getting up, picking her up and dropping her back on her bed. "This is YOUR bed. Sleep in it." Then he climbed back into his own.

"B-bu'..." Miley started to sob.

"Stop that. Now, be quiet and go to sleep." He growled with a harsh tone to his voice.

When Zack awoke the next day, he saw that Sephiroth was standing by the window, watching it hail.

"Where's Miley…?" Zack asked him, stretching his arms.

Sephiroth pointed to his bed where Miley was sleeping soundly.

"She climbed into my bed this morning." He replied, remembering that he had only gone to the bathroom, and when he came back, there had been a little lump in the covers.

"I don't know why you would ever want to put a sweet kid like her in care."

Sephiroth looked at the clock on the wall.

"We should eat and then leave." He responded faintly. Then he walked to Miley and woke her up.

"Miley," he shook her shoulder until she opened her eyes. "Get up." He growled, pulling the covers off her.

Miley got out of bed and hugged her arms. "I' cold..." She complained. Her toes that poked through the big holes in the end of her tights began turning purple.

Sephiroth frowned. "You can complain when your feet start falling off." He pulled her off the bed and began tidying it.

"Having second thoughts?" Zack asked as he watched Sephiroth, and pulled Miley off the floor and sat her on his hip.

Sephiroth glared up at him as he bent and pulled the cover over the pillow.

"No." He growled in a deep voice that told Zack that he was not in a good mood.

"Well, Angeal and I could help look after her."

Sephiroth continued putting the pillows back on the bed.

"Or you could make an arrangement with Shinra. Ask for a few days off."

"You know that the day that obese man will let anyone have a day off will be the day hell freezes over." Sephiroth looked around for Miley who was now in the bathroom trying to reach the sink.

"Downstairs." Sephiroth told her, annoyed.

Miley nodded and tried to hold his hand. However, he pulled it away. So she held Zack's hand instead. Zack held hers willingly.

"Where should we sit?" Zack asked her once they were downstairs, in a room with lots of chairs and tables. He made his voice excited whilst bending down so his weight rested on his strong ankles, and so that he was almost level with her.

Miley pointed to a table with two chairs in the corner.

"We can't sit there." Zack told her in a playful tone.

"Why?" Miley questioned looking at him.

"How many of us are there?" Zack asked her in a kind voice.

Not meaning to, he scared her and made her start crying.

Unknown to him and Sephiroth Hojo had tormented her for days on end, keeping her in a completely white room, depriving her of sleep, food and water while asking her over and over again how many of a certain item there were.

He did it purposely to torment her. She had never been taught any numbers before, and it literally drove her insane, until a kind man, who worked for Hojo, had taken her out of the room and fed her, while sitting her on his lap and calming her.

When Hojo had found her, he had fired the man and sent him elsewhere. Hojo had sent the man to Miley's cell only to teach her how to speak. He had left her the chalk as a parting gift. She had not seen him again.

"Don't cry! Don't cry!" Zack shouted, picking her up and hugging her.

Sephiroth turned around and looked at her. "Crying won't solve anything." He told her strictly.

"Seph'…!" Zack shouted. "She's upset! You could be a bit nice!"

Miley calmed down soon after, and Zack tried again to show her why they could not sit at a table with only two seats.

"We can't sit there, because there are one, two, three of us!" He told her excitedly, while pointing to her himself and Sephiroth.

Sephiroth had sat himself at a three-seated table after becoming tired of listening to Miley cry. He had told Zack that he could feel free to join him and give Miley the silent treatment until she stopped. Less to say Zack had shouted at him and refused.

"There are only one, two chairs." He said pointing to the table in the corner. "If we sat there where would you sit?"

"For…" She said quietly, meaning to say 'floor'.

"Yeah… but the floor can't be very comfy can it?"

"Are you going to sit down Zack? Or are we going to skip breakfast?"

Zack poked his tongue out and walked to the table, making sure to help Miley onto her seat before sitting on his own chair.

Miley knelt on her chair so she could reach the table-top.

"What do you want to eat?" Zack asked Miley, handing her the breakfast menu.

"Don' knows..." She replied quietly, and gave the menu to Sephiroth by leaning clumsily on the table, and sliding the plastic covered piece of paper across the wooden surface.

"Why don't you look and see what you want then?" Sephiroth asked tiresomely while drinking his hot coffee, which he had ordered when Miley was crying.

Miley looked up at him and gave him an innocent look telling him that she could not read.

She would have said it, but she had not learnt the word read and she had not read a single thing in her short life.

"Why don't you try pancakes?" Zack asked her. "_Everyone_ likes those."

Miley looked up at Sephiroth with big blue eyes. "Daddy…?" She asked giving him her cutest look, as if she was asking him with her eyes.

_'I never thought I'd be called that.' _Sephiroth thought. "Do you want it with syrup, jam, or lemon?" He asked her, while still looking at the menu.

Miley looked at him confused, and gave a small whimper.

Sephiroth bought her pancakes; and in the end, she had syrup on them.

"Taste good?" Zack asked Miley, who was eating as if her food would run off her plate any minute.

"Don't eat them so fast Miley," Zack told her. "You'll make yourself sick." Miley smiled and ate them at a slower speed.

When she had finished, and every crumb on her plate was gone, she pushed her empty plate away and sat on her chair, swinging her legs.

"Finished already?" The old woman who had been criticizing Sephiroth at the desk yesterday said.

"No wonder you eat so fast, you're only skin and bones." She took Miley's plate and smiled before walking out to the kitchen.

"Time to go…" Sephiroth sighed, standing up, and walking outside with Zack and Miley following him.

"Get in." He ordered her, opening the car door.

Miley did, and Sephiroth ordered Zack to strap her in before he could get in the chair next to the drivers seat.

"Next stop, Midgar…" Zack said, putting the radio on.

The journey to Midgar took a few hours.

When they got there, Sephiroth found his first stop and silently stepped out the car.

Zack stepped out too and released Miley from the confinements of her seatbelt.

Miley looked at a father and daughter coming out of a shop only a few metres away from where she was walking with her own father.

The little girl was smiling and laughing while jumping up and down at her father who was playing with her, he picked her up and tossed her in the air, catching her and then tickling her.

Miley stood and stared, it looked fun, but what were they doing? No one had ever done that with her.

She was a little too nervous to ask her own father to play with her, and did not even think of asking Zack.

Sephiroth yelled at her to keep up with him.

"Daddy, Wha' tha'…?" **(What is that?)** Miley asked, pointing to the big grey building surrounded by stone-walls, and a big stone plaque on the front of it.

Zack frowned at Sephiroth. "Seph', this is a Nunnery." He said in a low, unbelieving voice, as he looked at the black writing on the plaque.

"They'll give her the right type of discipline; she'll have a roof over her head and a bed to sleep in."

Zack growled. "She'll have NOTHING."

"Don' wan' be 'ere." **(I do not want to be here.)** Miley whined, hiding behind Zack.

She had caught onto the conversation, and refused be taken into that scary building.

"We can't all have what we want." Sephiroth stated, walking to the bell outside and raising his hand to ring it.

Miley started crying and grabbed onto his leg.

"Let go." He growled at her.

"NO! Don' wan' go! Don' make go!" She sobbed and screamed.

Sephiroth growled and glared at her. "Stop it! You're making a scene!"

Miley continued to shriek and throw her well earned tantrum.

"Seph', if you make her go in there then you are _pure_ EVIL." Zack muttered. "How'd YOU ever get the job as General? I think it's obvious that Hojo's going to take her from here."

Sephiroth sighed and lifted Miley off the ground, holding her for the first time, even if it was just to stop her clawing his legs.

"This is the best place to leave her, as if leaving the girl in Shinra would be any different."

"If you leave her there, I'm going to the nearest reporter and saying what you've done to a little girl."

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. He literally dropped Miley and stormed away, twenty-five years old and throwing his own tantrum.

Miley was still crying, Zack picked her up and carried her back to the car. Sephiroth had started the engine and was not afraid to drive away without the two of them.

Unless some sort of miracle happened then Sephiroth would stay furious for the rest of the day.


	2. Bonus Chapter: Cardrive

Sephiroth was still angry as he drove, attempting not to go over the speed limit as his temper continued to rage.

Miley was strapped in the middle back seat, much to Sephiroth's annoyance and Zack's mistake.

She was now unable to see out the window, making her curious of the things _inside_ the car.

"Wha' this?" **(What's this?)** She loudly asked, leaning forwards and grabbing the gearstick.

Sephiroth slapped her small hands away. "Leave it!" He kept his eyes on the road as he shouted at her.

Miley was quiet and bounced her legs on the seat, wiggling her toes.

A loud snort filled the air, followed by a continuous snoring.

Sephiroth frowned, if Zack fell on him or drooled on him, he would not hesitate to destroy the teenager, it had been Zack's idea to keep Miley and now he could not even keep her entertained.

But these thoughts were interrupted when a tiny giggle entered Sephiroth's ears. He could not deny that it was a nice sound, much like tiny silver bell's dinging back and forth, or like glass chimes in a gentle summer breeze.

And yet, it did not bring a smile to the General's face.

Another loud snort from Zack created more giggling from Miley.

'_I wonder what's so funny in this.' _Sephiroth thought, wondering why Miley only giggled and did not laugh.

Sephiroth stopped the car as he came to traffic lights and slowly glared at them, waiting for the colours to change.

Zack made a few munching noises as he turned his head, sounding much like; 'Num, num, num…' Causing Miley to giggle again and Sephiroth stare in confusion for a moment, before making sure Zack was really asleep.

After a few seconds of analyzing him Sephiroth believed that he was truly sleeping, not just making strange sounds to entertain the child and listen to her voice jingle.

After a while there were some small squeaky grunts coming from the back of the car.

Miley had been so quiet that Sephiroth had to remind himself that she was still there.

"What are you doing?" He harshly demanded to know, looking into the car mirror and seeing Miley tugging at her seatbelt.

Miley suddenly stopped and lent back.

"I repeat, _what were you doing_?" He asked again, a little more harshly.

Miley only shook her head.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and ignored her, beginning to drive the car again until he heard a click as she managed to unbuckle herself and tried climbing over the gearstick to get to Zack.

"Child!" Sephiroth shouted, furious, swerving the car slightly, waking Zack up in the meantime.

Zack blinked a few times and then looked at the tearful little girl looking up at him with big watery blue eyes.

"Get back in your seat." Zack gently said. A big difference compared to the way Sephiroth had spoken to her.

Miley slowly and hesitantly climbed back onto her seat as Sephiroth parked.

"What did you think you were doing?" Sephiroth hissed, glaring over his shoulder at the toddler.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Zack defended. "She was bored—"

"Why didn't you entertain her?"

"I'll look after her! Just start driving so we can get home!"

"Hodo…" Miley said, tugging on Sephiroth's hair.

Sephiroth immediately tensed. How could this…_thing_…confuse _him_ for _Hojo_?

"Miley, baby, this is Sephiroth, your daddy. Not Hojo." Zack explained, leaning his head back.

"Daddy Zack?" Zack coughed a little and shook his head.

"No, that's daddy, I'm _Uncle Zack_."

"Hodo…" Miley repeated after a few seconds of silence. "Wha' tha'?" She pointed to a house out the car window.

"That's a house. It's where people live." Zack said. "You see, people live in houses, like you will soon."

Sephiroth tensed again as his hair was pulled.

"Hodo!" Miley giggled, tugging on his hair.

Slowly, the Shinra building came into view.


	3. Chapter 2

Sephiroth opened the door to his flat at the top of the Shinra building.

Miley walked inside and looked up at Sephiroth as he locked the door.

"My houwse…?" **(Is this my house?)** She asked him.

Sephiroth turned around to face her. "If you mean: 'are you going to live here?' then yes."

Miley looked around and began exploring her new home with a brave curiosity.

The living room was simple, the walls were white and the floor was wooden. There was a TV in the room in front of a wooden coffee table with glass in the centre shaped as an oval. In front of the table was a black leather sofa, and to the side was a black leather armchair. At the back of the room were two large windows, under them was an oblong table with two chairs at each end, and between the windows was a phone, securely attached to the wall.

Miley spent a lot of time searching the sitting room, looking under the sofa and chairs as if she were searching for a missing item.

She had never seen a television before, but she did not ask Sephiroth what it was, instead, she walked through the door to the left of the armchair.

The room she had walked into was the kitchen. It had black, shiny, marble counters on each side; the floor was wood, just like in the sitting room. The cupboards were white and had silver handles. There was a fridge in the far corner and an oven built into the counter-tops.

The oven caught Miley's attention, with its shiny silver handles, knobs, buttons, and black colouring. She looked through the glass in the front, what she saw was a dark portal; she stared into it as though she were looking through into another world.

She jumped and yelped when a light lit the inside and bluish flames began to lick the back of the oven. Sephiroth was standing above her, he had been following her and had wondered what would happen if he switched the cooker on.

Miley ignored him and walked back into the living room to see if there was anywhere else to explore.

There were three more rooms. One was the spare room, the other was Sephiroth's room, and the last was the bathroom and toilet.

Miley walked into the bathroom.

There were white tiles on the floor and black and white ones on the walls; there was a sink opposite the white porcelain bath next to a shower, which had clouded glass so no one could see in, and between the two of them was a toilet, also white, with a toilet roll hanging on a hook beside the handle.

There was a mirror on the cupboard out of Miley's sight, located over the sink. There were also cupboards below the sink, glass with tiny knobs. Inside were towels, spare sponges, body wash. Shampoos and conditioner. Above the bath were three small rounded silver shelves attached the corner of the wall looking snug in their tightly fitted space. On them was shampoo, conditioner and body wash.

Miley attempted to open the cupboard doors. They were heavy and cold. One popped open with a 'click', causing Miley to fall on her rear and look a bit stunned.

Sephiroth lent in the doorway with his arms crossed, watching her, praying that she would not move or touch anything. To his relief, she didn't, and toddled past him, pushing his leg slightly.

The next room was Sephiroth's bedroom. It had red walls and a black carpet, the bedcovers and pillowcases were black silk, there were wooden bed-side-tables on either side of the bed but only the left-side had a lamp on it, obviously the side Sephiroth slept on. There was a wardrobe against the wall at the end of the king-sized bed pushed towards the window that was covered with white blinds and a chest-of-draws beneath them. Next to the wardrobe (on the side away from the window) was a metallic stand with a widescreen T.V on it and a D.V.D player on the shelf under it.

Miley ran to the bed and tried to climb on, tugging on the covers as she attempted to pull herself up. Her small arms were too weak, causing her to fall and try again. She pushed one leg over the side as she got herself off the floor and was almost at her destination when Sephiroth pulled her off.

"You _never_ come into this room." He warned with a rough edge to his voice.

Miley didn't seem to understand his warning and pushed the biggest button on the television in the room. The screen lit up and a picture of a heated car-race came zooming on, the loud noise caused Miley to fall back. Sephiroth growled and switched it off, roughly dragging Miley from the room and closing the door.

Miley was already looking at the last room as Sephiroth stood behind her. He was not worried that she would hurt herself, but rather, he was worried that she would damage his apartment.

The room Miley was looking in was a small room. The room had never been decorated since Sephiroth moved in, much like his own.

Two sisters had lived there before. One had been Scarlet, which was why Sephiroth's room was red. Scarlet's younger sister, Violet, had liked pink and purple. Therefore, the spare room had three pink walls and a purple wall. The purple wall had silver glitter on it in the shape of flowers, and on the other wall was a poster of a cute kitten. The single bed had white metal posts, pink silk covers and pillowcase, all slightly embroided with small swirls. On the bed was an old white toy rabbit. It had big, floppy, white ears that hung down to its floppy legs and wore a dark blue jacket with a pocket-watch painted on with fabric paint. Miley began playing with it; she had never seen anything like it.

At the side of the bed was a white chest of draws with a pink sparkle lamp on it. In the corner of the room was a white wardrobe with silver handles, the chest of draws had silver handles too.

Beside the wardrobe was a white dressing table, Violet had obviously liked white.

The dressing table had an oval mirror attached to it. It was wooden, and at the top of the mirror was a carved rose painted red. There were hooks on the side of the table with jewellery hanging from them; there were small draws with pretty plastic, diamond-shaped handles. There was a stool to sit on stored under the dressing table. On the dressing table were music boxes and jewellery boxes.

Where as Scarlet had taken all her things with her, Violet had been careless and left hers behind, saying she did not need them, since she was getting new things in their new flat.

Miley instantly started looking through the jewellery on the side of the dressing table. All sorts of expensive necklaces and bracelets were hanging on the hooks. Some were made of diamonds, gold and different jewels.

In the boxes on the desk were earrings, and more necklaces. In the small draws were brushes, hair accessories, and make up.

In the wardrobe were many teenage clothes. There were boxes at the bottom, filled up with children's clothes that looked like they could fit Miley. There were also teenage and children's shoes.

In the draws were nightclothes and underwear. Teenage nightwear and underwear was the only thing Violet had bothered to take with her. Therefore, the draws were now filled with children's night and underclothes.

To Miley, this was a strange and curious heaven. She had never had or seen any of these luxuries before. She became even more excited when she looked under her bed and found black bin-bags stuffed with cuddly toys and then a dolls house in the corner of her room under the window.

Sephiroth was sitting in the living room. Miley was playing with the toys she had found in her room. She had also found a pen.

Sephiroth had been so busy with his paperwork he had failed to notice Miley walk into the room and start drawing on the wall.

When he saw the _work of art_ scribbled on his wall, only because Miley had asked him if he liked it, he didn't know how to react. He didn't know if he should praise his daughter for the wonderful drawing she had done, or if he should punish her for drawing on his walls. He remembered that in Hojo's lab Miley had scribbled on the walls. Therefore, it was understandable why she was doing the same thing to his.

Not knowing what to do Sephiroth didn't say anything; he picked up his phone and dialled Zack's number.

Zack had said 'if she floods the bathroom: DON'T KILL HER call me! If she drowns a goldfish, DON'T DROWN HER call me! If she starts singing, DO NOT RIP HER TONSILS OUT, call me! Whatever you do: DON'T KILL HER!'

"This is Zack." A voice said from the other side of the phone sounding tired and bored from too much paperwork.

"Zack, I could use your help."

"You need MY help? Already…?"

"Miley-"

"What's she done?"

"Drawn on the walls, she didn't know she was doing wrong. Do I punish her or not?"

"Seph'... When it's an accident, you don't punish her. All you do is explain the situation to her, and then tell her how to put right what she's done wrong."

"So I don't beat her?" He said un-surely.

"SEPH'…! When your kid does something wrong, the last thing you do is beat them! Wait right there and do not do anything! I'm coming over." Then he hung up.

Sephiroth sighed and looked down at the confused little girl who was staring up at him with a big smile on her face.

"What talking' 'bout…?" **(What are you talking about?)** She asked.

"Nothing," Sephiroth replied.

The doorbell rang and without saying anything else, Sephiroth stood up and let Zack in.

"You haven't killed her yet have you?" Zack questioned urgently, rushing into the house with a light ginger haired Turk, Cissnei, following him.

"No." Sephiroth closed the door behind them both.

Miley became slightly shy at the new person who had come into the room. She looked very kind and pretty but it didn't stop Miley's shy feelings.

Zack looked down at the big scribble.

"Well, what do I do?" Sephiroth asked; crossing his arms.

Cissnei smiled and bent down so she was level with Miley, who had hidden her face in the side of the sofa.

"It's a very pretty picture." Miley looked at her and smiled shyly, blushing from the given praise. "But you shouldn't be drawing on walls."

"Why?"

"Because it makes them messy, I'm sure if you asked your father, he'd give you something to draw on."

"B-bu' Hodo 'et dwaw wawls..." **(B-but Hojo let me draw on walls.)**

"That was in Hojo's house. This is your fathers' house. It makes him sad when you draw on the walls."

Miley looked up at Sephiroth with big watery eyes. "Sowwy daddy..."

Sephiroth looked down at her and nodded with his elegant cat-like eyes closed.

Miley ran to Sephiroth and wrapped her arms around his knees as she had seen another little girl do when she had apologised to her father.

It took Sephiroth by surprise. He tried forcing Miley's arms off him, but Cissnei mouthed at him to let her do it.

"Maybe you could clean the drawing off the wall for him." Cissnei suggested. "Then you can draw it again, on paper this time."

Miley nodded, even though she did not know what 'cleaning' or 'paper' was.

Sephiroth went to the kitchen and got a special type of cleaning material, made especially for cleaning walls, and handed it to Miley, showing her how to rub it against the scribble. As he spoke he sounded like he was explaining something to a group of first-class Soldiers.

In a few minutes, the wall was white again.

"Thank you." Sephiroth muttered, putting a piece of paper on the coffee table, along with a blue pen.

Miley stood in front of the table and began drawing.

"See Seph'… It's easy!" Zack told him, sitting down on the sofa, spreading his arms across the top of it. "Cissnei and I will be there to guide you all the way!"

Cissnei simply nodded.

Zack looked around as if expecting something. "Any chance of getting a drink here, Seph…?"

Sephiroth snapped out of his daydream and frowned at Zack. "You know where the kitchen is, you practically live here."

Zack sighed and walked into the kitchen. "The service here stinks." He mumbled.

"That's good." Cissnei praised in light-hearted voice, looking over Miley's shoulder at her drawing, making Miley blush again.

"I have to see Lazard." Sephiroth told everyone. "I trust you and Zack can look after 'IT' for a few minutes." Without an answer, Sephiroth walked out the door and down to Lazard's office.

"Sephiroth, you're back." Lazard spoke, lacing his white gloved fingers together and putting his elbows on the desk. "What did Hojo want?"

"Hojo's insane." Sephiroth groaned, while standing in front of Lazard. "He wants me to train a female child, who is no more than five years old with the mentality of a two year old, so she can join Soldier."

"Who is the child?"

"Miley. Daughter of Katie... and me…" Sephiroth sighed.

"You…?" Lazard sounded surprised. Sephiroth nodded. "That explains why he wanted you to see if she was... worthy… of joining SOLDIER. When was she born?"

"Apparently she turned five three days ago." He let out a laugh. "Yet, from what I've seen, she's two years old."

"Where is she?"

"In my flat, with Zack and Cissnei,"

Lazard sighed. "You're forgetting the rule: NO children under the age of fourteen entitled to be in the Shinra building. When the president finds out, he will be furious. A member of Soldier was in the same situation ten years ago. He had the choice, give the child, up or lose his job."

"I tried to leave her in a Nunnery. However, Zack Fair argued, insisting that Hojo would take her. Also, I had a fight on my hands when she threw a tantrum. I'll figure something out."

Lazard leant back in his chair. "I'd like to meet this girl."

"When…? And why?"

"As soon as it's convenient, the sooner I meet her, the sooner I can find a way to enable her to stay. And I'd like to meet the General's daughter."

Sephiroth turned around and started walking out. "I'll be back soon."

Miley was in her bedroom with Cissnei. Cissnei had dressed Miley in a white dress, held up by thin straps and was currently tying the ribbon at the back.

'She really need's to gain weight…' She thought.

Cissnei had hoped to wash her; it was obvious that she had never bathed in her life. Her skin was very discoloured with dirt, and her hair was greasy and streaked in clumps and knots, so greasy that Cissnei was not sure if dark ginger was Miley's real hair colour.

Cissnei was currently sorting the clothes that Miley would have to grow into, while Miley played with the toy's she had found.

To Miley, toys were strange; she had never seen a Chocobo and had never heard of 'My Little Chocobo' before.

Cissnei had been playing with Miley; her eyes had filled with tears as she showed the little girl how to play, what the objects actually were, and that she would not get into trouble if she touched them.

"Miley." Sephiroth called, standing in the bedroom doorway, looking down at the little girl with piercing eyes.

Miley looked up at him and tilted her head, looking confused as to why he wanted her.

"You're coming downstairs to see someone." He told her, sounding tired.

"Who wants to see her?" Zack asked from the sitting room, still spread on the sofa.

"Lazard..." Sephiroth responded, watching Cissnei help Miley put on some white sandals.

Cissnei then watched Sephiroth walk out the door with Miley in front of him, pushing her forwards.

Miley looked around her surroundings with interest at the metallic walls as they walked down the stairs to Lazard's office.

"Who' Lizard?" **(Who is Lazard?)**

"Lazard, he is the head union executive of the Department of SOLDIER."

"Wha' mean?" **(What does that mean?)** Miley asked him.

Sephiroth answered her question and the many more that she asked.

"This is Miley I take it?" Lazard wondered aloud, as Sephiroth walked into the office, still pushing his daughter forward.

"Miley, this would be the first time we have met. It's nice to meet you."

Miley ran behind Sephiroth but poked her head out from behind him only when she heard how he spoke kindly to her.

"What do you have in mind, Lazard?" Sephiroth asked.

"I've no idea of what I can do. The only thing _you_ can do is persuade Shinra to let you keep her. I cannot understand why she is so small for her age; you should take her to Dave, let him have a look at her. He worked for Hojo and gave a report on a small girl in his lab; I think this could be her. I will see if I can get any of Hojo's files."

"Then why did you want to meet her if you can't think of anything?"

"I was interested."

Sephiroth sighed. "Where's she gone?" He moaned loudly, seeing that Miley was nowhere in sight.

Miley was having fun, skipping around the building, no one had ever said not to wander off. For someone who Hojo had raised she was not well educated.

"Hey there kid." A man in a Soldier's uniform smiled, bending down. "Do your parent's know where you are?"

Miley looked up at him shyly and did not answer. "Come on. You can talk to me, Right. I'm friends with Zack. Do you know him?"

Miley nodded.

"Now, where are your parents?"

"Don' know." She whispered, biting her knuckles and fiddling with the toy rabbit's ear that she carried down from the bedroom earlier.

"What's your name? I'm Kunsel."

"I Miley, this Pancake…" **(I am Miley, and this is Pancake.)** Miley told him, holding her stuffed rabbit up in the air.

"Where did you come from?"

"Lizards, wiv daddy." **(Lazard's room, I was with daddy.)** Miley told him, feeling like she could trust him.

"Really…? And what's your father's name?" Kunsel asked her kindly.

"Theffwifwof," **(Sephiroth.)**

Kunsel looked surprised and slightly taken back. "Theffwifwof…? Sephiroth…!" I didn't think he had kids?"

Miley just stood, looking confused.

Kunsel picked her up and said he was going to take her back to Lazard's office.

Sephiroth was still in Lazard's office. Both he and Lazard were looking under and over things trying to see if she was still in the room.

"She's not in here." Lazard finally said, coming up from looking under the desk.

"When I find her, I'll-" Sephiroth growled angrily, then was cut off by Lazard.

"If you beat or harm her she'll be taken away by social services."

Sephiroth was about to speak when Kunsel walked in with Miley.

"Sir, does this belong to you?" He questioned, putting Miley on the floor.

"Yes, but when I'm done with her she'll wish she didn't." Sephiroth growled, stormed to Miley, grabbed her arm roughly, and dragged her out the room and up to the flat.

"How DARE you run off like that!" Sephiroth shouted roughly, slamming the door open and throwing Miley inside, startling Zack. Cissnei had left five minutes ago.

Miley looked up at Sephiroth and sobbed, not knowing what she had done to make him so angry.

Zack stood up, and quickly followed Sephiroth into Miley's bedroom, where the General had stormed away with her.

"Seph'…!" Zack shouted, not knowing what Sephiroth was going to do. Maybe he was going to whip her with his belt, or hit her. "Leave her!" Zack yelled.

Sephiroth looked at Zack with a glare, then back at Miley, she was under her bed, she had hidden there as a hope to get away from her angry father. She was expecting to be beaten, that was what Hojo did to her when he was this angry. However, this man was so much bigger.

Sephiroth stalked out the room, then slammed and locked her bedroom door.

"She doesn't know what she's done wrong, Seph'!" Zack shouted. "Her entire life she's been locked up in some little room! How do you expect her not to walk off?"

Sephiroth didn't reply.

"You have to teach her Seph'! Kids are like animals, they need training."

"I've never been good with children. Do you know what happened when Angeal, Genesis and I were assigned to work at a nursery for trai-?"

"I know. But you have to learn sometime in your life. After all your girlfriends, who knows how many little Sephiroth's or Serophina's are running around out there?" Zack said, not realising that he had just mentioned Sephiroth's worst nightmare, of a world full of Sephiroth's little monsters running riot.

"Maybe... I should put her in the Nunnery—."

"What! Then Hojo can get his hands on her again! Think of how that would make her feel! It's not her fault! You're the one who has to give her a chance!" Zack shouted, trying to get through to Sephiroth's emotional walls.

The shouting and yelling soon started coming from both men. Miley didn't like it.

She was curled in a ball under the bed, her hands placed over her ears, her body curled around her stuffed toy, sobbing loudly. Hojo had gotten angry before, but with him she knew what he wanted, she knew what she had done wrong. However, with Sephiroth she did not know where she stood.

There was the sound of someone else entering the room and opening her door. The shouting from Zack and Sephiroth had stopped for a few minutes but then started again.

Cissnei walked around Miley's room, and then bent down to look under the bed.

"Miley?"

Miley did not look up, but stayed curled up, shaking and muttering things to herself while shaking her head from side to side.

"Come on." Cissnei kindly said, pulling Miley out from under the bed and carrying her from the small flat.

In the entire building, you could hear Zack's and Sephiroth's booming voices.

Miley was relived to be out of the environment.

"You're okay, right?" Miley nodded and sniffed. "This is Tseng, Reno and Rude." She introduced.

Miley refused to turn her head from Cissnei's shoulder to look at the three men.

"No one hit you did they?" Cissnei asked.

Miley shook her head.

"Good. We all know how angry Sephiroth can get." Cissnei told Tseng.

"The argument _is_ loud." Tseng said. "It's times like this when I wish Angeal were here to calm the situation."

"What'll we do if it gets violent?" Cissnei asked.

"We drag Zack out." Tseng looked at Miley. He could see that she was shaking badly.

"For someone Hojo wanted to bring into SOLDIER, she hasn't got a very good nervous system." Rude said.

"Just give her something to eat, yo." Reno pathetically advised, batting his shoulder with his EMR as he usually did. "From what I've been told the only good food she's had are pancakes."

Miley turned her head to look briefly at Reno. After a quick glance she hid her face again.

"I think even you'd be shaking after being in a room with an angry General, Rude." Tseng replied, taking the clingy toddler from Cissnei. To his surprise, even though Miley wanted to stay with Cissnei, she didn't complain or struggle.

Miley was taken to the Turks floor. She soon fell asleep down there. The argument had ended an hour ago. Angeal had come back from a mission unexpectedly, and helped calm things.

"She can come back upstairs now." Sephiroth whispered to Cissnei. She had been taking care of Miley.

"She's okay now. There were a few tears before she went to sleep."

"What was she crying about this time?"

"She forgot her toy, Pancake. Also, she's so tired; this is all new to her."

Miley woke up and stiffly rubbed her eyes.

"Daddy…?" She tiredly sat up.

"Everything's calm now." He reassured her.

Miley held her arms up.

Sephiroth was confused at what she wanted him to do, Cissnei told him to carry Miley up the stairs instead of make her walk.

Sephiroth bent down and picked her up. "Thank you, Cissnei." Sephiroth thanked, walking out the room and into the lift.

The sixteen-year-old Turk waved goodbye to Miley as she disappeared.

Miley yawned and snuggled further into Sephiroth.

"I' sweepy..." **(I am sleepy…)** She whined her last words before falling into a deep sleep.

When they got back to the flat Sephiroth, dressed Miley in nightclothes with Tigger printed all over them and then put her into bed.

He was not looking forward to fatherhood, no matter what anyone said, children were not his favourite thing in the world.


	4. Chapter 3

Miley awoke that night to a very uncomfortable feeling. She knew this feeling very well.

Slowly getting out of her bed, she looked at the mattress in shame. The covers were wet, just like her pyjama trousers.

She usually wet the bed, the only night she had not was when she was sleeping in the car and Inn.

Sephiroth had been sleeping when he was woken by Miley.

She was standing by his bed, holding Pancake and sobbing lightly.

"What's wrong now?" He asked her, frowning, sitting up and turning his lamp on.

Miley did not say anything, but Sephiroth noticed that her pyjama's were wet and had changed colour, the crotch had changed from purple, to a dark yellowish stain.

Sephiroth sighed and got out of bed. Miley looked up at him with eyes full of tears and fear.

Sephiroth turned her around and guided her out the room. He was trying Zack's advice to be gentler towards her. He would have offered her his hand, but he was too tired to remember that part of the ever-growing ritual.

Miley flinched away from him, thinking he was going to hit her as he held his hand out, suddenly remembering Cissnei's words to 'Hold Miley's Hand'.

"S-sowwy..." Miley sobbed as Sephiroth looked at her bed and rolled his eyes before grabbing both sides of the bed sheet and pulling it off, along with the covers.

"Don't be." Sephiroth replied tiredly, while rubbing his eye.

Miley watched as Sephiroth changed her bed covers, and then got out some new nightclothes to dress her in.

"Why are you still crying?" Sephiroth hissed as he changed her. He had not meant for his words to sound so harsh.

"Hi-t me-e..." **(You will hit me…)** Miley struggled to say, while trying to keep her sobs down to get the words out.

"Why will I hit you?" Miley pointed to the bed. "I'm not going to beat you, Miley." He told her, lifting the covers up for Miley to get in.

Miley got in the bed and had the covers pulled over her.

"Good night." Sephiroth said, walking out, leaving Miley in her bed.

A minute later, Sephiroth felt another weight added to the bed. 'What now?' He thought, rolling over.

Miley was in his bed, snuggled up against him. 'Why can't you sleep in your own bed?' Were his last thoughts before going back to sleep, unable to do or say anything due to his tiredness.

Miley watched him sleeping, she was restless. Therefore, she chose to go through Sephiroth's things.

First, she looked through his chest of draws. In the first draw, out of her reach, were only black underwear and belts. In the second was a hairbrush and a few items of clothing; in the last was sword polish.

In the wardrobe, eleven long leather jackets hung. At the bottom was a black plastic bag with black swimming trunks, sandals, sun cream, beach towels and a beach time's book.

Miley finished going through Sephiroth's things and climbed back onto the bed. She put both hands on Sephiroth's upper and lower eyelid, and pulled them apart, to reveal Sephiroth's cat-like eye that had started moving around, proving that he was awake.

"Pwetty eye..." **(You have pretty eyes.)** Miley stated in a low voice.

Sephiroth rolled over so he was facing away from Miley. "'Ow 'til 'morrow…?" **(How long until tomorrow?)**

"Tomorrow will come sooner if you sleep."

Therefore, she did.

However, Sephiroth could not sleep, because Miley had wrapped herself up in his long, silver hair and had taken the covers. She also kept pushing him out the bed.

The next day, Miley awoke in her own bed. There were voices coming from the living room that did not belong to Zack.

Getting up, Miley looked through the crack in the door. Two men were in the living room; one of the men had black hair and was sat next to a man with brown hair. They were both talking to Sephiroth.

"What do children eat?" Sephiroth asked them both; he was sitting on the soft armchair, pushed to an angle so he was looking at the sofa. "I don't know what to feed her."

"They don't like vegetables. Well, I say that but you get the occasional child that does." The brown haired man said, his elegant legs crossed, and his hand on his knee.

"She'll be having vegetables anyway. I'll get a book of some sort." Sephiroth said in a low voice. "And what about… bedtime…? She keeps getting into my bed."

"Send her back to her room; if she won't go you drag her." The man with the black hair told him. "But be kind about it. _Especially_ if she's had a nightmare…" He made sure to add.

Sephiroth sighed and rubbed his forehead. "What about urinating? She wets herself during the day as well as during the night."

"She's been with Hojo; you have to expect her to be traumatized. Buy her pull-ups."

"I've never wanted a child. They're too expensive and need too much attention."

"Just like a little puppy." The black haired man laughed.

"I thought that you would call little girls kittens, my friend." The other man said.

Sephiroth continued to ask questions and speak about Miley.

Miley came out of her bedroom and slowly walked to Sephiroth.

She climbed onto him and made herself comfortable on his lap, despite the fact that he did not want her on him.

Miley looked at the two men and huddled herself into Sephiroth, hiding her face in his chest.

"This is Angeal," Sephiroth pointed to the black haired man. "And Genesis."

Miley climbed off his lap and bravely walked to the sofa Angeal was sitting on.

After walking around the sofa, as if examining him to see if he were human, she looked up at him curiously. "Yoo' Uncwle Angel…?" **(Hello, are you an uncle Angeal?)**

Angeal laughed and smiled. "Sure."

"Uncle Gen'sis…?" **(Is he an uncle Genesis?)** Miley asked, pointing to the man sitting beside Angeal.

"I think he is." Miley seemed happy and climbed onto Angeal's lap as she had done with Sephiroth.

Angeal smiled. "You're right, she is a kitten." He gently patted her head, ignoring the grease that stuck to his hand.

"What do you want for breakfast?" Sephiroth asked her.

"Pancake's…" Miley said chewing her knuckles. It was the first time Sephiroth had noticed her do that.

Sephiroth looked at her, amused. "There are other foods in the world other than pancakes."

Miley's eyes widened with delight. "Weally?" **(Really?)** She loudly gasped.

Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal looked at Miley with amusement.

"You can have cereal." Sephiroth said standing up to walk into the kitchen. Miley followed him. Angeal and Genesis smiled, she was so cute and innocent.

"Wha' cereal…? I' pancake's? Do 'i go on pancakes? Pancake like pancake. Don' yoo…'?" **(What is cereal…? Is it pancakes? Does it go on pancakes? Pancake likes pancakes. Don't you…) **She addressed the last part to the toy resting in her arms. "He sayd yes, he like pancake..." **(He said yes, he likes pancakes.)**

"I think she likes pancakes." Genesis joked to Angeal, listening to Miley talk constantly.

"Sephiroth said that it's the only tasty thing she's ever really eaten." Angeal replied.

Miley came out of the kitchen, following Sephiroth who was carrying a bowl of Wheatabix covered in milk with a few raisons sprinkled on top.

He never liked cereal, but it was good in the mornings when he needed to rush or have a snack.

"I' don' look like pancake." **(It does not look like pancakes.)** Miley examined, kneeling down at the table and grabbing a spoon in her small hand.

After one big mouthful, Miley kept shovelling it in, skilfully avoiding the raisons.

"Hungry?" Genesis questioned.

Miley nodded.

"Eat it slower. You'll make yourself sick." Angeal told her. "We wouldn't want that to happen."

"Bu' I' 'un'wy..." **(But I am hungry.)** Miley defended, with her mouth full of food, part of it disgustingly falling out her mouth.

"When did you last feed her?" Angeal asked Sephiroth, who was sighing at his daughters lack of table manners and the toy rabbits floppy ear resting in the bowl, helping soak up the milk.

"Yesterday morning."

Angeal sighed. "Children need to be fed three time's a day. Morning, Afternoon and evening, if not, they complain and get sick."

Miley's stomach soon rebelled against her wishes and removed the food from her system. Eating larger portions after being starved and eating far too quickly had its effects. Then she did something no one ever _imagined_ she would do…

She picked up her spoon and began to eat her own vomit.

"Miley!" Sephiroth shouted before anyone else, as Miley swallowed and scooped more up onto her spoon.

Sephiroth took the spoon out of her hand before she could take another mouthful.

Miley looked up at him confused with watering eyes and a quivering mouth.

"Miley, come here." Angeal kindly said with a sigh, beckoning for her to come to him.

Miley went to him and was helped onto his lap while Sephiroth waited to hear what was said along with Genesis; who seemed more disgusted than anyone else did.

"Why did you do that?" Angeal questioned kindly, as he wiped her mouth with a tissue that he kept in his pocket.

Miley looked up at him as if she was guilty.

"You don't need to worry." He assured her, as he set the tissue aside. "I just want to know why you did that."

Miley mumbled something. "What was that?" Angeal asked her quietly, in a calm gentle voice.

"Hodo sayd…" **(Hojo said…)** She began in the quietest of voices.

"Hojo said what?" Angeal asked her in the same quiet tone, hoping to make her feel more at ease.

"I' weally 'un'wy, ea' what I… gived..." **(If I am hungry, I will eat what I am given.)** She explained, in an even quieter tone. "I' i' come ou' fwrough mouwf ea' tha'…too." **(If it comes out through my mouth, I will eat that too.)**

"Ahhh…" Angeal said in understanding. "Well… You are not with Hojo anymore. Are you?" He kindly spoke a little louder. "So you don't have to do that anymore. If you want more food, all you have to do is ask, okay?"

Miley nodded.

Angeal smiled. "Sephiroth… Why don't you rinse her mouth out?"

Sephiroth lifted Miley off Angeal's lap and walked into the kitchen with her. She soon came back with a glass of water in both her hands.

"Don't run with your drink." Genesis told her as she tried to run to them. Or, to put into better words: she toddled quickly.

Miley sat down on the floor with both her skinny legs spread out. "Uh oh…" She quietly said after she spilt the drink down her face and front after trying to take a gulp from it.

Sephiroth came back to get Miley's bowl to wash up. "May I make a suggestion?" Genesis asked.

Sephiroth looked at him.

"Buy Miley a toddler's cup. They're very cheap and come in very useful."

Miley looked up at Sephiroth who was towering behind her. "I maked me wet!" **(I made myself wet!)** She shouted happily, holding up the empty glass.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes, and walked into the kitchen, taking Miley's glass with him.

All was silent for a few minutes. Genesis was reading silently from his Loveless book, and Angeal was looking at Miley out the corner of his eye while Sephiroth stayed in the kitchen.

"E! E! E!" Miley shouted repeatedly, as she rocked herself back and forth, her legs still spread out. She soon stopped, and laid on her front in boredom, and then sighed as she rolled around.

Angeal smiled. "Bored… Miley…?" Miley seemed to ignore him and rolled onto her back, then stood and walked into her room.

"I wonder where she's going." Angeal laughed to Genesis, who looked up from his book as Miley waddled back in with Pancake and another teddy under her arm covered in patches.

"Who's this?" Genesis asked, after Miley held Pancake up to him.

"Tha' Pancake... This Fwizzle..." **(That's Pancake, and this is Fwizzle.)** She told him, holding up her other teddy for him to see. It was brown and had dark patches covering it. It had two little pointed ears, shiny black eyes and a nose, its arms and legs were floppy and it seemed to have a smile on its face.

"Really…?" He breathed, trying to sound interested. "Maybe Angeal would like to see them."

Miley took Pancake from Genesis and walked to Angeal.

"Have you shown your father yet?" Angeal asked her, after looking at the toy that had been handed to him.

Miley looked at him confused. "No…" She mumbled. "Bu' showeded Daddy…!" **(But I showed daddy!)** She shouted, making Angeal and Genesis laugh at her lack of vocabulary.

"Miley, your father is your daddy." Genesis explained to her.

Miley shook her head at him; daddy was daddy, not father.

Sephiroth soon walked back in and sat down. "Perhaps I should get a book on parenting..." He suggested.

Genesis shook his head. "You'll only get more stressed. What you need is a woman's help."

Sephiroth looked at Genesis as if he were insane. "And you think that I'm going to get stressed with a _book_? How can I cope with _women_? They have strange hormones created only to annoy men. As far as I'm concerned... women are only good for two things."

"Wha' two fings…?" **(What two things?)** Miley asked.

"Cooking... I'm not entitled to explain the other thing."

"Why?"

"Because,"

"Why?"

"You're too young to know."

"Why?"

"Don't fall into the trap, Sephiroth." Genesis warned. "All children do this. It's like backing a parent into a wall."

"They usually do it to get a parents attention." Angeal told him knowingly.

Sephiroth looked down at Miley; she was standing up with both hands on his knees smiling up at him innocently.

"Why don't you take her to the park?" Genesis suggested. "It will give you both something to do."

"I'll end up killing her, and every other child there. Besides, it's winter."

"Children do play in the winter you know." Genesis replied.

"We'll go with you." Angeal suddenly stated.

Genesis looked at him. "We will?"

"Yes, _we will_."

"Wha' a paaarark…?" **(What is a park?)** Miley asked. "I' here…?" **(Is it here?)**

"No, it's outside. You _will_ like it. _You had better…"_ Sephiroth mumbled as Miley crawled onto his lap again.

"I'll ask Cissnei to come." Genesis told them, standing up and walking out the door.

Sephiroth sighed. "So I take it we're going _now_?"

"Apparently..." Angeal replied standing up.

"Go and get dressed." Sephiroth ordered, lifting Miley off his lap.

"You can't leave a little child to get dressed by herself." Angeal explained, standing up. "Not until they're about seven at least. I began mentoring Zack when he was fourteen and I had to help dress him then." Sensing the strange looks he was being given he added: "He couldn't do his belt right and could hardly tell which boot went on his left foot."

"When did everyone else learn about parenting so suddenly?"

"I'll dress her." Cissnei said, startling everyone as she stood in the doorway. She gently took Miley's hand and walked into her bedroom.

"Don't bother to knock will you Cissnei." Sephiroth complained.

"Would you rather dress her?" Cissnei called out, not surprised when she did not get a reply. Though she did hear Sephiroth saying that 'Turks think they can do whatever they want when not in the face of the enemy.'

"Do you want to wear trousers or a dress?" Cissnei asked, pointing to each individual item of clothing, helping increase Miley's knowledge.

"A dwess," Miley told her. "I like tha'." **(I like that one.)** Miley pointed to the dress she wanted to wear more than anything. It was pink with thin pink straps, it was her size and would reach the floor when if she put it on. There was a pink voile material covering the dress, which was very light and silky, also delicate. The dress was embroided with sequins in shapes of flowers and swirls, along with glass beads.

"It's a very nice dress. But it's only for a special time. How about this…?" She pulled out a different pink dress.

The skirt of the dress came above Miley's knees and was a plain pink. The dress had long-sleeves with small puffs on the shoulders. The skirt had white frills at the bottom; it also had a white bow at the back that wrapped around the waist.

Miley was helped into white tights and small pink shoes. Then, Cissnei found a white coat with pink mouse ears and big nose jutting from its big hood. It had large pink pockets on both sides, had thick pink lining going down either side and around the bottom as well as on the end of the large sleeves, cuffed and elasticated around her small hands. The rest of the coat was white and puffy, especially puffy on the sleeves.

Cissnei could not help but smile at how cute Miley looked wearing it. Once the coat was buttoned the length came down to her thighs, making her look like a tiny snowman with legs.

"Time to go…!" Sephiroth called from the front room.

Miley ran out of her room and jumped up at him. "Auntie Cissnei come wiv us?" **(Will Auntie Cissnei come with us?)**

"Auntie…?" Cissnei repeated, surprised. "I didn't know Hojo taught his projects manners."

"She calls everyone Auntie and Uncle." Sephiroth replied, lifting Miley up to stop her from jumping. "Let's go."

"Where' Uncwle Angel…N' Uncwle Gen'sis…?" **(Where are Uncle Angeal and Uncle Genesis?)**

"He was called away by Zack." Sephiroth told her. "They'll be meeting us there."

"Okay." She replied sweetly, managing to get out of Sephiroth's grip, then taking his hand, and walking out the building with him.

Sephiroth tried to shake Miley's hand off his, but Cissnei gave him one of her many looks, telling him to let her hold his hand.

The park to Miley was a wonderful place. She had never seen so many children, and never seen any of the activities they had there, even if it was wet with rain.

"Enjoy." Sephiroth told her with a strict note in his voice that made it sound more like an order. Then he sat down on a wooden bench.

Cissnei shook her head at him and bent down to Miley's level. "Be nice to the other children, don't go in front of the swings or you'll get hurt," Cissnei explained, pointing to the swings so Miley knew what she meant. "Don't push children off the slide, don't push through the waiting lines, wait your turn, and be careful around little children."

Miley nodded, and slowly walked away; looking back occasionally as if to make sure it was all right.

Cissnei sat down next to Sephiroth and smiled at Miley who was already making friends with the other children by showing them Pancake. "She looks happy." Cissnei smiled, trying to get a sentence out of Sephiroth.

"I know. Was it really wise to dress her in a _white coat_?"

Cissnei sighed. "She'll be fine, those clothes will need to be washed anyway, she's filthy, and I'm surprised the other children are actually playing with her she reeks so badly."

Sephiroth only grunted in response.

"How about we take her to the fun-house later? Apparently, they have a bouncy castle. Then we can take her out for food." Cissnei looked at Sephiroth; he was watching Miley like a hawk. Like a protective parent making sure nothing hurt his child.

"It's not the other children you have to worry about when they're around her. It's the adults that are pretending to be parents."

"I'm not that concerned."

"Then why are you looking at her like that?"

"I said; _I_ _don't like children_."

"But she's such a sweet little girl."

Sephiroth did not reply but continued to watch her. Miley was quite energetic, but had to stop and pant for breath at times; being locked in a small room had not helped her health, it was a miracle she was not agoraphobic.

Sephiroth turned his head when he heard the squeaking of the wooden gate being opened and saw Angeal walking through it with Zack following.

"Hiya Seph'!" Zack greeted, sitting down next to him. "That looks cute." Zack said looking at Miley who was playing tag with three other children.

"Uncwle Zack! Uncwle Angel!" Miley shouted running to them and wrapping her arms around Zack.

"Look at you all dressed up!" Zack started tickling her. "Go give Angeal a hug, he'll feel left out." Miley instantly ran to Angeal and hugged him.

"You should put her in dresses more often, Seph'. She looks cute in them. Girls always look cute in pink."

"The praise for dressing her doesn't go to me."

"Well I'm telling you 'cause Cissnei isn't going to be around every day." Zack told him, poking his tongue out.

"Daddy..." Miley shouted, pulling on Sephiroth's coat. "Daddy, help on tha'!" **(Daddy, help me on that!)**

Sephiroth sighed, and stood up, then walked to the red coloured monkey bars with her.

"Do you think he'll ever have fatherly feelings towards her?" Zack asked both Cissnei and Angeal, his arms spread over back of the bench.

"He will, just give it some time." Angeal said, sitting down and smiling at Sephiroth, who was not holding Miley, but teaching her how to keep her grip. "And I don't think it will be too long until he does."

Cissnei smiled. "He doesn't like having much contact with her." She explained. "He never likes her hugging him or holding his hand. I wonder what would happen if she tried to kiss him?"

"Sephiroth has _never_ liked too much contact." Angeal said. "Even when he was a child and used to go to Banora with us for a holiday, he hated it when my mother tried to hug him or give him any type of close contact." He started laughing.

"What's funny?" Zack asked. "Come on! Let me in on the joke!"

"He first went to Banora with us when he was three. And every night, when my mother tried to tuck him in, he would yelp, scream, or start crying. He used to walk with his hands in his pockets so no one could hold his hand, and when he had no pockets he'd to put them down his trousers."

"What about when someone did hug him?" Cissnei asked.

"He'd scream. And when my mother tried to kiss him he'd go stiff."

Everyone looked at the monkey bars when they heard Miley scream as she almost fell. "I fall!" She screamed.

"Just move your hand to the next bar." Sephiroth shouted at her, sounding annoyed.

Miley continued to scream. Sephiroth shook his head and lifted her down from them.

After Miley _forced_ Sephiroth to watch her go down the slide three times, he went and sat down.

"Having fun Seph'?" Zack teased.

"Answer me this one question. Why do children insist on getting so much attention?"

Cissnei shook her head. "You should think yourself lucky. You could have a daughter like her." She pointed to a spoiled little girl, about the same height and age as Miley, who was standing in front of her father screaming, throwing herself on the floor and started kicking her legs.

"I wan' sweets! And I wan' it now!" The little girl screamed at the top of her lungs, making several parents look her way. Her father walked away to give her what she wanted.

Sephiroth frowned. "What that girl needs is a good slapping."

"Is that what you'd do to Miley if she ever acted that way?" Angeal asked.

Sephiroth nodded. "If she carried on then she'd get more than a slap… She'd get a good whipping…" He looked down at Miley who had run back over to him and was pulling on his leather trouser leg. "What now?" He growled venomously.

"Help on tha'?" **(Will you help me on that?)** Miley asked pointing to the small swings.

"Cissnei will help you." He said.

Cissnei turned to him with a frown. "Thanks for letting me know." Then she walked to the swings with Miley who was already toddling to one of them.

"That's a big girl's swing Miley." She explained to Miley who currently had both hands on the seat. "You're still very little so you need to go on this special swing." Cissnei lifted Miley up and put her in the seat before pushing her back and forth, making Miley laugh and giggle.

"Where is Genesis?" Sephiroth demanded; sounding very put out. "It was his idea to come here so where is he?"

"He said he had paper-work to do." Angeal said.

Sephiroth sighed and shook his head. "So he gets to relax while the rest of us are tortured."

"What you talking 'bout Seph'…? She's a great kid. And it's _Cissnei_ doing all the work." Zack told him.

"Daddy…!" Miley shouted, running to Sephiroth. "Auntie Cissnei said we go pway i' funny-howse now!" **(Auntie Cissnei said we can go and play in the Fun house now!)**

The end of the day finally came and Miley was tired. She had never been out for so long, or had that much exercise. She was asleep by the time they got home. So, Sephiroth put her straight to bed.


	5. Bonus chapter: Funhouse

Miley looked in wonder and fear at the environment she had been placed in.

It was in a large room in the Midgar Museum, used as a playground for children whose parents longed for a break or wanted to look around the museum with no children bouncing around.

The ceiling was high and moulded into shapes, very Victorian looking. The walls were tall and painted in colourful blue and reds.

Against a wall was a long tunnel, painted blue, covered with painted fish and green papier-mâché seaweed, it was about five foot tall so an adult could fit in. It was a rectangular shape with stiff foam tied the sharp, hardboard edges. It had round windows, once again painted in an underwater theme.

In the corner was a boot-shaped funhouse, the end of the boot was cut, disguised as a hole with a bright red slide coming from it.

In the centre of the room was a small bouncy castle with an age limit of up-to-five's written on a bent piece of white swinging plastic.

"Are you okay Miley?" Cissnei asked, kneeling down to see how Miley was coping in such a large crowd.

Cissnei got her answer when Miley desperately threw her arms around her neck.

Angeal sighed and glanced at Sephiroth, wondering if his friends face would show what he was feeling, or _if_ he was feeling.

Cissnei gently lifted Miley up and made comforting 'Oh' noises as Miley began to cry.

She carried Miley out the room and into the very narrow hallway so she could calm her.

Sephiroth followed, wishing he could be anywhere else at that moment, even if it meant having a physectomy, I should add that he still has all his limbs and body parts in tact. '_If only I'd had that surgery five years prior to this…'_ He thought.

"What's wrong?" Zack comforted, stroking Miley's hair as Cissnei patted her back.

"There were too many people, weren't there?" Cissnei gently said as Miley overcame the shock.

Miley nodded her little head and mumbled "Yeah…"

"You could at least help calm her down Sephiroth; she's your daughter after all." Zack complained.

"You really want _me_ to attempt calming her down?" Sephiroth asked, raising an eyebrow. His method of calming children was old fashioned, ignore the child or spank them until they can cry no more.

Zack paused and shook his head. "Nope, you only make things worse."

Angeal secretly nodded his head.

"I know it's scary, but no one in there is going to hurt you, daddy will even play with you if we go back in there." That sparked Miley's interest. She nodded and reached for Sephiroth who looked horrified.

"Daddy…" Miley whined.

Angeal smiled and put his hand on Sephiroth's shoulder. "Off you go daddy! Good luck."

Sephiroth looked over his shoulder and glared at Angeal, then turned his head back to Cissnei as Miley was dumped in his arms.

"Go play!" Zack shooed Sephiroth away, earning a glare and a silent threat for decapitation.

"You had better be grateful for this." Sephiroth growled as he took Miley back into the room and placed her on the floor.

She held Sephiroth's hand for about ten minutes, not moving as she grew used to the environment.

Sephiroth's body was tense as he watched the little creatures toddling here and there. He looked at the parents faces and wondered how they could be so happy with such a terrible 'thing' to take care of. And to think, most parents had _more_ than _one child_! Some _willingly_ wanted _more_!

He felt himself be suddenly tugged towards the large boot-shaped funhouse, and felt a sudden dread as he was pulled inside. He could almost feel the laughs and snickers of his friends as he was tugged around by a child.

Sephiroth was pulled through the play-mat covered doorway of the boot-house. He wacked his head on the thick rolled up, plastic covered foam on the top, causing his head to go a little fuzzy. He didn't see what was in front of him as he fell off the raised flooring and straight into a ball-pool.

Had he been standing, the blue and white balls would have come up to his shins, but at that moment, he was sitting down as if he had slipped in a puddle. He was on his rear, one knee bent and sticking out the pool while the other was at an awkward angle and his weight was supported by his hands.

A ball bounced off his head as Miley giggled and threw another, before he knew what was happening he was being pelted from all sides by hyperactive children, all under the directions and orders of Miley.

The interior of the boot-house had a large ball-pool covering the ground. There were tall square platforms all the way around the room.

There was a slide at the back and at the front of the ball-pool was a small slope with rope netting and a rope down the middle so children could pull themselves up.

Things would not have been so bad, had he not looked up and seen Angeal filming with a smile on his face, while Cissnei and Zack stood laughing on either side of him.

Sephiroth suddenly realised that this entire time he had been filmed. That's when he thought the doomed words. '_At least it can't get any worse than this_.'

"Ripples form on the waters surface," the voice began "the wandering soul knows no rest."

'_Oh no.' _Sephiroth thought, knowing that now he would never hear the end of this little _event_.

"Enjoying yourself, Sephiroth?" Genesis questioned with a sly smirk.

"Don't you have paperwork to be doing?" He growled, wincing as Miley tumbled down the slide behind him and kicked his back.

"Daddy! Up!" Miley demanded as she stood in front of a small but steep slope padded with more play-mats, and had a rope hanging down the middle which she couldn't climb.

Sephiroth lifted her back onto the surface with a scowl on his face.

Genesis smiled. "Perhaps, but isn't that what secretaries are for?"

Sephiroth moved and sat down next to the slide at the back of the interior with his feet in the ball-pool.

"I found him in the old books area chatting up some tar—" Zack was cut short when Cissnei slapped him on the back of his head.

"Not in front of the children!" She shouted.

Sephiroth glared at his daughter as she threw another ball his way.

Miley had just finished climbing up the slide and was now standing next to him. In his hand was the ball she had thrown at him.

His glare soon turned into a face of shock and horror, with wide eyes, a straight mouth and absolute stiffness as a sloppy kiss was forcefully planted on his cheek.

Sephiroth began to feel like the victim of a very sick joke as the four people standing in the entrance began to laugh loudly.

Angeal zoomed the camera-lens in on the plastic ball Sephiroth was holding. It was now broken and crushed into a cracked and airless block, caused from the shock Sephiroth had just experienced.

"My goodness Sephiroth." Genesis teased. "Are you blushing?"

"I think that's anger." Zack said. "You can tell by the vein in his head and his eye twitching."

Cissnei smiled and bent down. "Come here Miley and give me your coat."

Miley struggled her way through the pool, tripping every now and then until she made it to Cissnei and was temporarily lifted out of the dip and onto the hard surface.

Once her coat was off she dived back in.

Cissnei sighed. "I wish Sephiroth had bathed her before we left."

'_If I ignore them, maybe they'll stop filming.'_ Sephiroth thought hopefully, but unfortunately for him they continued.

"Don't any of you have anything better to do than standing there filming me?" Sephiroth hissed as Miley found a 'secret entrance' to the long tunnel which was also decorated with plastic fish.

Angeal shook his head, so did everyone else. "No." Angeal replied.

"Not really." Cissnei added.

"The secretary's doing my work." Genesis boasted.

And out of the blue Zack shouted: "I really want cake!"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and then turned back to Miley, who had disappeared into the tunnel, the 'hidden entrance' which had been covered with many shiny strips of plastic.

"Miley!" He angrily called after her, darting into the tunnel, not noticing Angeal crouched behind him, following him.

Miley stood in front of one of the small round windows, staring through the blue tinted plastic.

She turned her head and squealed when she saw a cuddly toy octopus lying on the ground.

"Child! Don't touch that!" Sephiroth shouted; pulling Miley's hands away from the toy. "You don't know who's touched that…"

Angeal smiled and shook his head, amused at how pathetic Sephiroth was at that moment.

"May I mention that she's covered in more germs than all these children put together?" Angeal said, causing Sephiroth to glare at him.

"Yes, _thank you_ for _poking your nose_ in Angeal…" He grumbled, holding Miley's wrist to stop her picking the now dropped toy off the floor.

"Ge' off me! Don' knows where 'ou bee'd!" **(Get off me! I don't know where you've been!)**

Sephiroth suddenly noticed Genesis crouched behind him laughing his head off, which was strange for the brunette when sober and not being sadistic.

"That's right Miley." Genesis laughed as Miley hung her head back and let out a loud cry, her entire body going limp as her wrist was tightly held.

"And you don't want to know where your daddy's been either." _'He's been hiding under the darkest rock he can find…' _He added mentally as Miley attempted to tug her hand from Sephiroth once again.

"I think you're hurting her Sephiroth." At Angeal's words Sephiroth let go of Miley and watched her scamper behind Genesis.

Genesis smiled as the little girl grabbed his leg and hid under his long red coat.

Angeal continued filming as she used Genesis as a tent; she was now sitting underneath it with her small legs spread out. He could only just see her small head looking around at the red darkness she had engulfed herself in.

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes as Genesis handed his daughter the 'forbidden' toy.

"Sephiroth, she's never played before, let her learn." Angeal practically demanded, turning the camera lens to Sephiroth's angry face.

"Does Miley want ice cream now?" Cissnei called through the tunnels exit.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "She's not having sweets. It's bad enough she had pancakes."

"Sephiroth, she's entitled to have sweets." Genesis said as Miley crawled from his coat and stood by the window, lifting the toy octopus to look out the window with her.

Once again, Sephiroth's eyes narrowed. "Who is this child's father? You or me."

"And remind us who her mother is." Genesis cruelly said.

All was silent, Angeal was sure Sephiroth was going to strangle Genesis.

"You went too far, Genesis." Angeal turned back to Sephiroth. "Don't you think that after such a terrible life Miley deserves a little fun?"

"So she can grow fat and leave me to pay her dental bills?"

"Better than paying credit card bills." Genesis said.

Angeal rolled his eyes. "May I remind you who it was in Banora that ate all the toffee apples?"

"And the pie, the jelly, flan, cupcakes and the stuffing from your favourite teddy?"

"How do you remember all of this Genesis?" Sephiroth questioned.

Genesis frowned. "Because you blamed it ALL on me. My father spanked me with a rubber-sole-shoe multiple-times as punishment!"

"Hm, where do I buy a rubber-soled-shoe?"

"Sephiroth!" The black-haired-camera-wielding-man scolded. "That is NOT a suitable punishment for a child!"

As the three Soldiers argued, none of them noticed Miley outside the tunnel licking an

ice-cream as she watched them through the blue-tinted window with Zack holding her and laughing at the crouching men.

Miley was sat on Zack's knee as he squatted, and he had his arms wrapped around her middle.

"You like ice-cream?" Zack questioned with a happy tone in his energetic voice.

His answer came as a series of ice-cream stained nods.

"I'm gonna give you some cake later!" Zack had never noticed how much he enjoyed feeding children.

"There!" Miley shouted, pointing at the bouncy-castle.

"Yeah, you can go on there when you finish your ice-cream." Zack told her.

Surprisingly, Miley did not demand to go beyond her set limits, much unlike Zack's four-year-old-cousin.

That had been a nightmare he did not want to go through again.

"Hey, you're dribbling!" Miley watched as Zack licked around the base of her pink dripping

ice-cream.

Zack raised his head once again, and with a childish smile said: "Mmm! Tasty!"

"Make sure you don't lick anything off her hands." Cissnei said; walking behind Zack and handing him a blue slush-puppy.

"I don't think she's had a bath in years."

Zack nodded. "Yeah, she does smell."

A loud laugh bubbled from Miley's mouth as a small boy hit Sephiroth of the head with a toy lorry.

Sephiroth was crouched down when it had happened, and now he was being hit by children from all sides.

Zack licked around Miley's ice-cream again as she stared at the inflated castle.

"Cissnei," Zack said to the Turk standing behind him. "I'll eat Miley's ice-cream if you take her on the castle."

Cissnei smiled. "She really should eat her ice-cream first."

There was a sudden splat sound and the two teens turned their heads towards the small girl's hand, pointing at the mess on the floor. "It goed 'way!" **(My ice-cream went away!)**

Cissnei sighed and smiled. "You want to go on the castle?"

Miley accepted the hand held out to her and toddled off Zack's lap and towards the jiggling castle.

Cissnei sat Miley down on the sponge-filled mat as she took Miley's small shoes off to add to the collection thrown on the mat by other children.

She gasped when she saw the state of Miley's feet.

Her toe-nails were long and curled, the skin was blue and black from frost-bite and red in other areas with blisters and sores, though it was hard to tell which parts were dirt and what was frostbite.

Miley looked confused and tilted her head, her greasy hair falling over her face a little in greasy strands and clumps. "Do your feet hurt?" Cissnei asked, faking a smile.

Miley didn't reply, only watched as Cissnei asked a child's mother if she could borrow a baby-wipe.

Cissnei thanked the woman and then bent down again, gently wiping Miley's feet, watching the white soggy wipe turn black; looking like it had been smeared with coal.

Miley squirmed a little, but she didn't complain once, she didn't even whine.

The state of Miley's feet afterwards was still bad, but not as bad as before, her toes were a lighter black, the red was dark and slightly infected and the souls of her feet were split.

Cissnei bit her lip and was about to speak, but Miley climbed onto the castle and screamed excitedly as it bounced her up and down.

Around ten minutes later, Sephiroth emerged from the tunnel with his two friends, all of them suffering from bruises, backache and neck-ache.

"Where is '_IT'_?" Sephiroth asked Zack, who sat on a long wooden bench travelling along the walls length.

He pointed to the castle where Cissnei was standing and waving.

"You must not give it any sweets."

"Sorry Seph', it's a little too late for that."

Sephiroth frowned. "What do you mean?"

"She's had a strawberry ice-cream, and I've promised her cake."

Sephiroth was about to throttle Zack when he was glomped by Miley hugging him after much bouncing.

"Get off me!" Sephiroth demanded, sounding so angry and cold that Miley's large smile melted as quickly as her ice-cream had, and she had such a painful look of abandonment in her beautiful eyes that Zack immediately lifted her up.

"Don't talk to her like that!" Zack shouted. "It's not her fault you knock up anything with a —"

"Zack!" Angeal shouted. "Don't say such things around children." Zack poked his tongue out and then walked away to get cake with Miley.

An hour later, after a sticky child and many more arguments, they were preparing to go back to the Shinra building.

"Why are you crying?" Sephiroth harshly asked Miley as he put her shoes on her feet.

"P-Pancake gone'd 'way!" **(Pancake's gone away!)**

Sephiroth closed his eyes, wishing this was all a dream.

"Where did you last have him?" He heard Cissnei ask. "Your daddy will go look for him. Sephiroth, go check in the ball-pool."

Sephiroth stubbornly crossed his arms and rose to his full height. "You're expecting me to take orders from a Turk."

"Either you can go and look, or you can take Miley home and have her up half the night crying for the thing." Genesis threatened.

"She won't do that."

"Why?" Genesis pushed.

"I remembered a shop that sells those rubber-soled-shoes your fath—"

"Go look for it!" Cissnei shrieked, actually making Sephiroth jump.

As Sephiroth walked away Zack followed him, coming to make sure Sephiroth did actually search.

"What's wrong with that Turk?" Sephiroth asked.

"From what Miley took out of her bag my guess is she's on period."

Sephiroth walked back inside the boot-house and jumped back into the ball-pool. He dived under searching for the toy.

After a while he pulled it up from under the mass of colour and held it by its ear.

"You found it!" Zack cheered, now holding Miley in his arms.

"Pancake!" Miley cried, wriggling out of Zack's arms and grabbing the rabbit as it was handed to her.

Sephiroth threw several plastic balls from his pockets with a disgusted look on his face.

By the time they got home, Miley was sleeping.


	6. Chapter 4

"So, this man is called Dave." Sephiroth repeated as he stood before Lazard.

"Yes, he's an old assistant of Hojo's." Lazard explained, his fingers laced as they usually were. "He worked on the Miley-project."

Sephiroth looked down at the documents he held in his leather-clad-hands and lifted a page. On the page he was staring at was a small photo of Dave, he had average white skin, light brown hair, was of average weight, had grey eyes and was wearing a soft smile on his peaceful face. But no matter how nice he looked Sephiroth had to remind himself that he had worked for Hojo, he could be as bad as a Devil's Minion.

"I see…"

"Dave is a good person; he's in the Med-Lab right now, go see him."

Sephiroth turned and began walking away.

"Sephiroth!" Lazard called after him, causing Sephiroth to turn around. "How's Miley today?"

"Fine, as loud and irritating as usual."

"How did she take the shock of having her first bath?" Sephiroth said nothing. "You haven't washed her yet?"

There was no answer, only the sound of Sephiroth's descending footsteps.

The moment Sephiroth stepped into the Med-Lab he felt uneasy; the smell of sterilized air and different medicines reminded him of an unhappy childhood with Hojo. Things had changed a little once he had begun going to Banora for his holidays, and then once Genesis and Angeal joined Solider. But there were many memories of misery in his head.

"Can I help you Sir?" A young man in his twenties asked. He was standing over a surgical table and had just finished mixing several liquids together.

Sephiroth immediately recognized him as Dave,

"I'm inquiring about the Miley-project." He sternly replied.

Dave nodded. "Ah, come through here and we'll speak." He calmly said, opening a door that led through to what appeared to be a small office.

The office was fairly small and snug, a small bookcase rested in the corner, adorned with books on medicine, science, facts and a few files, one of which Dave lifted up and set on the desk in front of a blind-covered window then sat on his chair. There was also a chair on the other side of the desk where Sephiroth sat.

The walls were a forest green and the floor had a rather ugly brown carpet.

"I take it you discovered your blood-relation to be inquiring on this matter?"

"Yes, I demand you to tell me all you know about Miley _and _the project."

"First, I _must_ know, where is Miley now? I've been…worried…about her." He said it with such concern that Sephiroth found it hard to believe this man had once assisted Hojo.

"She's staying with me in the building." Dave gave a sigh of relief.

After taking a deep breath, Dave began. "Miley was born September 15th 1998; her mother was your EX-wife, Katie Frost—"

"Don't make it sound like divorced." The silver-haired-General scowled. He would never tell Zack that he had been married; keeping secrets was the little control he felt he had left over his life.

"I'm sorry, I meant no offence." He continued. "Katie haemorrhaged during and after giving birth, also from the many experimental treatments she had received. She named the child Alice, she didn't know if it was male or female. If it was male she was planning on calling it Luke, that's what she said through the pregnancy anyway. As there was another project known as Alice, Hojo renamed her Miley." He held up the folder he had taken from the bookcase. "This folder holds all the experiments and torment Miley was forced through. It dates from the time of her birth until she was put in a nameless machine which stops growth, mentally as-well-as physically, she had to have all her main organs controlled by machinery and IV's, it's obviously a very distressing experience. This folder only indicates the first two years of Miley's life."

Sephiroth listened intently, intrigued and horrified at the information. He was very good at keeping his self-control. At that moment he longed for Katie to be there with him. He guessed that this must have been what Miley felt when he left the flat that morning, when she had begun crying.

"I left after a year; I was unable to live with myself for doing nothing to prevent the torture of my own daughter as well as yours. I spoke to the president several times, but…as you can see, nothing was done."

Sephiroth's lowered gaze slowly rose to Dave's face. "The president, knew of this?"

Dave nodded. "Yes, I was unable to tell you and forbidden from uttering a word to anyone else. I was recently told that order has been lifted and I was afraid the child had…passed away."

"Anything else you are 'forbidden' to tell me?" He growled. The word 'forbidden' was laced with poison on his tongue. Even if he did not like Miley as his daughter, she was his, a part of him. Something he had more of a right than any scientist to know of and the President himself had kept it from him.

Dave shook his head. "I will tell you everything I can on the Miley-project. Bring Miley in for a check-up, take her to the private medical room number 140XE, I'll do a complete check-up and give you all the knowledge that I can."

Sephiroth rose from the seat and walked to the door. He muttered a small 'thank you' as he twisted the door-knob and walked out.

In his apartment, Miley was sitting on the sofa watching T.V. Zack was in the kitchen raiding Sephiroth's fridge as usual.

"Miley," Sephiroth said, watching the excited eyes meet his. "Before you pounce on me I'll warn you, you're going to see a doctor who is going to give you a full check-up. Get dressed."

Miley was still, she had no idea what her father had just told her, but she hated doctors, after years of living with scientists known as doctors and professors forever hurting her, the very word made her tremble.

Sephiroth was in the kitchen with Zack when he heard Miley shriek and begin sobbing. With a growl and a sigh he walked into the living-room. Miley was lying on the floor kicking her arms and legs while screaming.

"Get up child." He ordered, his voice dripping with authority as he stood over her.

Miley ignored him and screamed louder when he lifted her by her wrist.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at the wet patch on her skirt. "You've wet yourself again." He said in a gruff voice, low and dangerous.

He grabbed both of her skinny forearms and held her tightly; his face was close to hers as he angrily spoke to her. "What did I tell you?" He hissed, each time he spoke he would pull her close to him and then push her away a little.

Miley shook in his grip.

"Repeat! What did I tell you?"

Many more sobs came from Miley; eventually Zack came from the kitchen and saw the scene unfolding before him.

"Seph'!" He shouted. "She's only a kid, leave her alone!"

Sephiroth looked at Zack over his shoulder with narrow feline eyes. "Zack, go into my room and get my slipper."

"You don't wear slippers."

"They're _not_ for wearing."

Once again Zack shouted Sephiroth's name and condemned him on his parenting techniques.

"Well then, what do you suggest I do?"

"Make her wear pull-ups during the day as-well-as at night. And buy her a training pot."

Sephiroth raised a silver eyebrow, he had let go of Miley and was watching Zack hold her. "A…training…pot?" He repeated. "What is that exactly?"

Zack stuttered a little. "Well…it's a…a…you know…"

"I don't know, now since you're here you can dress the little creature."

Zack frowned but considered it best that Sephiroth calmed down than leave a hysterical child with him.

As soon as she was dressed Sephiroth rose from his seat and carried her down the stairs.

Miley was in tears as Sephiroth carried her

"Don' wan' go!" **(I do not want to go!)** Miley sobbed and screamed as Sephiroth carried her through a long hallway.

She was gripping her father's shoulders and hair with badly shaking hands. She was sobbing as loudly as she had been when Sephiroth first saw her in the lab.

Sephiroth was regretting the way he had treated her when she had wet herself, now he had to cope with her crying louder than she should have been.

"Miley." Sephiroth moaned gruffly trying not to get annoyed with her. He knew she was scared but he did not know why, all this man was going to do was look at her after all. "Stop crying."

"Don' wan' 'o back!" **(I do not want to go back!)** She sobbed and coughed, as big tears fell down her face.

"Miley, I'm not sending you back to the labs if that's what you're worried about." He told her, forcing the words from his mouth, while using one hand to open the silver door that led to the private room.

Miley continued to cry as Sephiroth sat her down on a chair and waited for Dave to arrive. He stood so that Miley would be unable to climb on him.

Dave came in about five minutes later. He was about Genesis height and was wearing a white coat over black trousers, and a shirt.

Sephiroth and Dave tried to speak over Miley's loud sobs and chokes.

"What's wrong, Miley?" Dave asked her kindly, kneeling down and putting a hand on her back. "Do you remember me?" Miley sobbed and nodded.

Dave smiled. "Don't worry. It's only me. No Hojo here... I just want to take a look at you and see if you're all right." Even though he said it so warmly and kindly, Miley's sobs did not decrease.

"Can you sit her up there?" Dave asked Sephiroth, standing up and beckoning to the long dentist-like-chair in the corner. It was high up so it would be easier to look at her.

As soon as Miley was sat on the chair, she refused to let go of Sephiroth. She had his fringe in one hand; shoulder in the other, with stray strands of hair tangled in her hand and had wrapped her legs around him.

"Let go." Sephiroth ordered strictly, trying to get his hair out of her hand. Being stronger than she was he succeeded, though she soon grabbed him again.

"Stop making such a fuss." He hissed, prying her hand from his shoulder and then trying to get the rest of her off him.

Dave stood beside Sephiroth and Miley. "I hope you won't mind me doing this, but I need you to let go of her." He said to Sephiroth who let go of Miley immediately. She stayed in the same place and tightened her grip on him.

Dave slid one hand around her middle and the other one under her arm and tickled her.

She screamed and let go off Sephiroth to try to get Dave's tickling fingers away from her. As soon as she let go of Sephiroth, Dave stopped tickling her and laid her down on the long chair.

Miley tried to get off but Sephiroth held her there.

"Calm down!" Sephiroth shouted at her angrily. She did not listen and continued to thrash. Sephiroth slapped her leg; it stung but did not leave a mark.

"Stop it!" He shouted.

Miley stopped thrashing and instead curled into her father who was standing closely against the chair. If he moved, she would fall.

"Stop crying. We've already said that you're not going back and you're not going to get hurt."

Miley continued to cry just as loudly.

"Well… it's obvious that her mobile functions are fine." Dave said, typing something into his computer in the corner, making a screen come up.

"She'll no doubt lose her front teeth early and they'll most likely grow back within a week to be the same size, and then fall out again when she turns her actual age of five years." Dave explained, taking something out of a drawer and walking back to the crying child who curled further into Sephiroth.

"Can you open your mouth for me sweet-heart?" He asked her; bending down to look at her face.

Miley folded her lips into her mouth, bit down on them, and then shook her head.

"Why not…?" He asked her nicely.

She was still sobbing.

"Miley, do as he says." Sephiroth ordered her. "NOW."

Miley did as she was told, and opened her mouth a little. If she were eating, she would not have been able to fit the tip of a teaspoon inside her mouth.

"A little more, a little more…" Dave kept saying until her mouth was fully open. That was when the long thin instrument in his hand was revealed. Miley's eyes widened and she closed her mouth again.

Sephiroth frowned, put his hand under her chin, and squeezed both her cheeks until her mouth open and a small shout came from her.

"Thank you." Dave began scratching at some of her teeth, and then put his finger in her mouth to touch her two front teeth which most children lose first.

Miley bit down hard.

"Miley!" Sephiroth shouted at her.

Dave held his hand up to tell Sephiroth that it was okay.

"Miley. I know you are scared. But I promise that I won't let Hojo come here and lock you away again or take you back to the labs."

Miley said nothing.

"I'm not going to hurt you, it won't be like before."

Miley thought for a few seconds and then opened her mouth a little. She still remembered how Dave had done as Hojo had said and just kept jabbing needles in so Hojo could watch the effects, it was hard for her to believe that he was not going to do that. A child's trust is an easy thing to gain, and a very fragile thing to break.

Dave pulled his finger out and sighed. "Her teeth seem fine. Can you take her dress off her?"

Sephiroth began roughly unbuttoning the back of the dress and then lifted it over Miley's head.

Dave tutted and put his hand on Miley's back. "She's too skinny. She needs a few more vitamins too." He pulled Miley's shoes off and sighed. "I'll inject her with a small antibiotic to help her overcome the infection in her feet. There's a lot wrong but only minor things. Make sure she wears socks until the frostbite on her feet is gone. I'm just going to need a blood sample and then you can take her back upstairs." He said pulling out a needle and a container with some sort of fluid inside.

Miley screamed and gripped Sephiroth. "NO!" She shrieked as a patch on her arm was wiped, and the needle was placed there.

"It's only a small needle." Sephiroth said trying to distract her, as it was pushed inside. However, Miley still screamed.

"There. Wasn't so bad was it?" Dave asked her after placing the second needle in her foot. Miley continued to sob and nodded.

"To make things easier for you I'll give you her modified birth certificate." He told Sephiroth. "It'll help and make more sense if you want to leave her in a day care or anything. All you have to do is put her last name down here."

Sephiroth looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. '_Day-care…! Why didn't I think of that?'_ He thought. "I don't know my last name to give her one." Sephiroth told him, as he held the yellow piece of paper in his gloved hand.

"I'm sure you can think of one." Dave said kindly.

The new birth certificate had a different birth date on it so people would not be confused when they saw that she was supposed to be five years old. This one said that she was born two years ago on the 9th of July in the year 2000.

A short while later, it was over, and Miley was being taken back upstairs, he carried her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Didn't go well huh?" Zack questioned, walking behind Sephiroth and stroking Miley's head.

"She screamed and cried the entire time." Sephiroth replied moodily, opening the door and walking inside, then put Miley on the sofa.

"Awww…" Zack said sitting next to her and pulling a video out of the carrier bag. "Do you want to watch this? It'll make you feel better."

Miley sniffed and looked at the bright yellow video case with the words Winnie the Pooh written on it. "Wha' tha'…?" **(What is that?)**

"The original stories of Winnie the Pooh… I also have a video of Noddy. Mom sent them down for you. You put them in a funny long machine, and you see moving talking pictures!"

"Wha' a mum…?" **(What is a mum?)** Miley asked Sephiroth in a small voice.

Sephiroth walked over to her, took the tape of Winnie the Pooh, and put it in the machine.

"Most children have two parents. A mother and a father, but in your case you only have one, so don't get your hopes up." Sephiroth told her.

"Don't tell her like that Seph'!" Zack shouted, pulling Miley onto his lap. "Lot's of children don't have a mom. Your dad didn't have a mom." He told Miley. "But you have a dad to look after you, so you're okay."

"Zack," Sephiroth said, standing. "Are there any Day-care centres in Midgar?"

"Yeah... There's one about ten minutes from the SHINRA building." Zack replied. "Wait! You're not thinking of putting Miley in one, are you?"

Sephiroth nodded. "She needs an education and I need to do my work. Yesterday, she shredded my papers, and switched off the computer when my work was almost done."

Zack growled. "At least it's better than a Nunnery..."

"What a Daeycwaer?" Miley asked, while sucking her thumb.

"Somewhere you'll be going soon, now get your thumb out your mouth!" Sephiroth shouted.

Miley shook her head.

"If you don't take your thumb out your mouth now I'll rip it off."

Miley slowly pulled it out her mouth.

"No need to be so harsh." Zack said in a low voice. "Sephiroth, when are you going to give Miley a bath?" He questioned, as he tried to keep his nose above Miley.

"I haven't gotten around to it yet." Sephiroth lied. The truth was that he had never given anyone but himself a bath before. Less to say he was slightly afraid of bathing a child as nervous as Miley, in fear that she would scream and he would be falsely accused of child abuse.

"Well bathe her soon alright? She reeks…"

Miley held her arm up at Zack, showing him her heart-shaped plaster. "Wow! You got a cool plaster!"

Sephiroth sighed as the tape started playing; this was going to be a long day.


	7. Chapter 5

"Park!" Sephiroth heard the shout from his toddler as he sat at the oblong dinner-table table in front of the two square windows, eating his dinner, which consisted of Pork topped with egg, peas, carrots, sweet corn, and cauliflower all soaked in gravy.

Miley had given up on eating the large portion on her plate the moment it had arrived. Sephiroth had scolded her for leaving it, but considering that the day before when he had forced her to eat she had thrown up on him, he was willing to let her eating habits slide.

"No." He replied strictly, eating the meat from his fork as he kept his head turned to his right, looking at the T.V screen on the far side of the room.

_No_ was not an answer in Miley's vocabulary. She dropped off the chair opposite Sephiroth, which was padded with cushions so she could reach the table, walked under the table and gripped Sephiroth's leg.

"Go park, please." She begged, making sure to sound sweet and add please to be the icing on the cake. But unfortunately, Sephiroth was no longer a fan of sweet things.

"Look out the window." He told her.

Miley struggled onto her chair and stood on it, trying not to slip on the cushions.

The sky was grey and covered in an angry sea of clouds, making Midgar so dark that Sephiroth had switched the light on in the living-room, something he rarely did. Lights shone from several other windows and the street-lights had come on. Business men hurried home and some ran into the building to escape the wind and fine rain. Children were still in school but no doubt would be running home through heavy rain in a few hours time.

"Do you really want to go out in that?" It was not a question but rather a statement, not asking Miley if she wanted to go, but rather stating that Sephiroth refused to go.

Miley nodded enthusiastically, misunderstanding her fathers tone to his words. "Miley wan' go!" **(I want to go!)**

Sephiroth sighed and ignored the toddler as she jumped off the chair and ran into her bedroom.

It was when Sephiroth was washing-up she emerged, dressed in odd shoes, one blue the other a red-rubber-boot, a jumper which was turned inside-out, a coat on back-to-front, and a skirt caught in her knickers and tights she had yet to pull up. Sephiroth was amused, he smiled very slightly, you could hardly see it, but it was still there. It was a smile he often gave Zack when the boy was not looking.

"Daddy! Ge' dwess now!" **(Daddy! Get dressed now!) **She called up at him, pulling on his leg. For the first time, Sephiroth actually gave in.

He regretted it the moment he stepped outside. As he had predicted, the heavens opened had it rained torrentially.

Miley loved it. Before he had a chance to stop her, Miley had jumped in the biggest puddle she could find. Her bright red welly's turned brown with mud, dirty water splashed onto her white and pink coat, also on her thick skirt. Sephiroth sighed, if Cissnei thought Miley was dirty before, she should see the dark patches on her skin now.

The park was too wet for Miley to go on anything, something Sephiroth had not once contemplated. But Miley still enjoyed it. Sephiroth held his head as she rolled in a pool of mud, literally _rolled in it._

"Get up Miley!" Sephiroth hollered as his daughter laid on her front, sprawled in a big brown puddle.

Miley had a large grin on her now brown face.

"We're going home." He pulled Miley from the puddle and refused to touch her as he walked through the street.

"Looks like you will defiantly have to bathe her now." A feminine voice laughed behind him as he stood outside several shops, waiting to cross the road.

Cissnei was carrying a shopping bag full of Reno's cigarettes and nicotine gum, patches and other items for each individual Turk. "But let me guess," she continued. "You've got no bath things for her."

"Bath…Things…" Sephiroth repeated, confused. "She gets filthy and is cleaned, what else does she need?"

Cissnei smiled, for being named so smart Sephiroth certainly was naïve.

"Get her some bath toys to play with. She'll also need shampoo, conditioner, shower-gel, a towel…" She trailed off.

Sephiroth glanced down at Miley; he had forbidden her from hugging, touching and for the meantime speaking to anything and anyone. "Are all children expensive? Or just this one?"

"You're lucky," Cissnei smiled, "boys are worse." She took Miley's hand, not flinching in the slightest when she felt the mud on Miley touch her. "I'll help you get the stuff."

Sephiroth was rather relived that someone else was doing it for him, though he did feel very helpless.

The shop they went to was a large supermarket; there was an endless row of bath-toys to choose from.

Miley was looking through the isle and found some things she liked on the bottom shelf.

"Have this…?" **(Can I have this?) **She asked, pointing to a pack of rubber ducks and wax crayons. She would have picked them up, but Sephiroth had forced her hands in her dirt-filled pockets and then buttoned the pockets, preventing her from taking her small hands from the tiny space that was left.

Sephiroth nodded and placed them in the basket he had been left with.

Cissnei ran back from the isle she had disappeared into and dropped a towel, conditioner, shampoo, sponge and shower-gel into the basket. In her hand and under her arms she held several other things.

"What monstrosity is this?" Sephiroth asked, looking at the box in Cissnei's hands, it had a picture of a pink plastic thing on the front.

"This…is a children's pot." She placed it in the basket. "This…is a push-chair." She looked towards the long box under her right arm. "And this…is a high-chair and child-reigns."

"She really needs all this?" Sephiroth questioned, staring at the basket.

"Yes." And that was the end of the subject.

Once everything had been paid for, Cissnei followed Sephiroth and Miley back to the Shinra building, saying that she would wash Miley's clothes, it was a well known fact that Sephiroth's washing machine was broken; he had blamed it on Miley of course. He had discovered that children were very good to dump the blame on.

"Auntie Cissnei sayd need baf 'cause 'air dirty." **(Auntie Cissnei said I need a bath because I am dirty.)** Miley told him innocently, as they walked into the lift in the Shinra building to get to their very high flat. She was holding Sephiroth and Cissnei's hands. "I no' have'd baf 'fore." **(I have not had a bath before.)** She told Cissnei while looking up at her.

Sephiroth said nothing.

"Really…? I think you'll like it. It's really fun!" Cissnei enthusiastically told her, while also saying how her bath toys would like it too, and when she came out, she would be put into warm nightclothes.

The lift stopped and Sephiroth walked towards the flat with Cissnei.

"Boot's off first." Sephiroth ordered Miley, opening the door and walking inside to get the bath ready.

Cissnei struggled inside and dropped the large box and bag on the sofa, then followed Sephiroth into the bathroom.

Miley took off her brown, muddy boots, and toddled in. She still left muddy footprints since her socks were soaked with brown mud. She skidded as she walked past the many boxes and bags that had been left on the floor and coffee table.

Miley peeked into the bathroom; Sephiroth was taking the bath toys out of the white plastic nets and lining them up at the head of the bath while Cissnei added bubbles and ran the water from the taps.

Miley walked in and looked at the bath curiously.

"I thought I told you to take your boots off?" Sephiroth grumbled, looking at the muddy footprints on the bathroom tiles.

Miley nodded. "There were bwown stuff i'side." **(I did there was brown stuff inside.)**

"What did you do with the mud?"

She pointed to the living-room, just in time to hear someone scream as they fell.

"What was _that_?" Cissnei worriedly wondered, unable to tell if it was Zack or Reno.

Sephiroth sighed, stood up and walked out the flat to see who it was.

Zack was lying on the floor, looking confused. "Ow..." He moaned as he sat up and saw Sephiroth looking down at him. "Let me guess... Miley…?"

"How could you tell?" Sephiroth asked almost playfully, as he walked back into his flat.

"I didn't think you'd fit into those." Zack mumbled looking at the dripping boots.

Zack stood and followed Sephiroth.

Miley was already out of her clothes and in the bath thanks to Cissnei.

Her bedcovers were currently being changed and clean nightclothes were warming up on the heater in the living-room.

The toddler had put all her bath toys in the bath with her and was drawing on the inside of the bath with her wax crayon.

Sephiroth looked and sighed, the floor was already wet.

Zack poked his head around the door and smiled. "I'll be in the living room if you need any help." He said, walking away.

"Don't touch the drink!" Sephiroth called out and then looked back at Miley.

Miley smiled up at Sephiroth cheekily and splashed him.

Sephiroth had no chance of remaining dry as he was continually splashed.

"Stop it!"

Miley stopped and obeyed her father after five seconds of splashing fun.

"I'll leave you to wash her." Cissnei said; about to walk out the room.

Sephiroth grabbed her arm roughly, a little fear and nervousness in his eyes. "What do you mean? Aren't _you _going to wash her?"

Cissnei looked up at him as if he was insane. "You're her father. Besides, I have work to do. What will you do when I'm not here?"

Sephiroth said nothing.

"What are you so afraid of?" She questioned.

"I think it would have been better if she had been born male…" He sighed, looking back at the naked child in the bath.

"Ahhh… So _that's_ it! All you have to do is wash her like you do yourself. There's nothing wrong in that." She told him and then made her escape by quickly walking away.

Sephiroth sighed and considered it wise to take his wet coat and gloves off.

Miley laughed as her not-so-happy-father squeezed a large amount of sweet strawberry and cherry smelling shampoo onto her head and then began rubbing it in.

He handed her a pink sponge with shower gel on it and told her to clean herself.

Miley looked up at him and held the sponge out at him. The soapy sponge hit him in the cheek, casing him to frown.

"Can' do i'." **(I can't do it.) **Miley mumbled.

Sephiroth sighed and washed her as quickly as he could, at the same time making sure he did a good job of it.

When he was washing under her right arm, a loud giggle bubbled out of her and she squirmed. Sephiroth moved to the next arm. Again, the same thing happened.

"Someone's ticklish!" Zack sang from the living-room.

It was when he was rinsing the soap out of her hair he noticed that the colour had changed. Her hair had some how changed from greasy ginger to bright blond.

He said nothing and added conditioner, then rinsed that out. He could not believe his eyes as his child's hair turned golden, her skin turned as pale as his, and the bath water turned a dark, murky brown.

Once Sephiroth was finished he walked into the living room to ask Zack if children's hair often changed colour when washed.

Miley was rolling around in the bath excitedly. She didn't know why Sephiroth had walked out the room with such a perplexed look on his face, and she didn't really care.

She slowly began to play with her hair, enjoying its length, cleanliness and new colour.

"What do you mean she's _blond_?" Zack asked Sephiroth in a loud surprised voice. "Did you buy hair dye?" Zack and Sephiroth walked into the bathroom, Miley had climbed out the bath and was playing with her toys on the floor.

For the first time in his life Zack was speechless.

Sephiroth pulled the plug out of the bath and the dark brown water drained.

"Dry yourself off." Sephiroth demanded, handing her a pink towel.

"Maybe she was so dirty before that we thought it was her original hair colour?" Zack suggested.

Sephiroth nodded. "Could be…" Sephiroth replied while looking at the trouble his shivering daughter was having drying herself, so he began helping her. _Starting with her hair_.

Sephiroth and Zack continued to talk for a long time. Sephiroth forgot that he was drying Miley and carried on talking.

"Daddy…" Miley whined, her teeth chattering from the cold. "Daddy...huwwy up. Cowld." **(Daddy, hurry up. Please. I am cold.)**

"See ya' later Seph!" Zack said, walking out the flat and into the one he shared with Angeal.

Sephiroth looked down at Miley and took her into her bedroom to get her dressed for bed. He took her nightclothes off the radiator on the way to her bedroom.

"What have t' eat?" **(What am I going to have to eat?)** Miley asked while stepping into her pull-ups.

"A sandwich."

"Where' Uncwle Zack…?" **(Where is uncle Zack?)**

"He's gone back to his flat."

"Oh. Have storwie?" **(Oh, Can I have a story before I go to bed?)** Miley asked, as her nightdress was bunched up, and her arms were pulled through the armholes. Zack had told her a story the day before, it was a story about when he was her age and when his evil _pet Elf_ was twelve. He had said that Sephiroth would give her one before bed if she begged and bribed him hard enough.

"No." Sephiroth grumbled, pulling her pink nightdress down over her head.

"Pwease…! I be good!" Miley begged.

"Will you be quiet?"

Miley nodded.

"Only a small one then..." Sephiroth sighed, standing and walking from the room.

Miley squealed and jumped up and down, then skipped into the sitting-room, only to be lifted into the high-chair Cissnei had bought her that day. Zack had set it up before leaving.

"Puwl-up' feewl funny..." **(Pull-up's feel funny** Miley moaned, moving around in her chair.

After wetting the bed three times' and continually wetting herself throughout the day, Sephiroth had taken Zack's advice and bought her pull-ups. Miley had complained, and was less than happy to be wearing them.

"As soon as you stop wetting yourself you can stop wearing them." Sephiroth told her, laying a plate in front of her. "No drinks after six; and you go to the toilet before bed."

"Wha' i' thirs'y…?" **(But what if I get thirsty?)**

"You'll live."

Bedtime finally came and Miley crawled into bed, excitedly waiting for her story.

"You tewl storwie o' one o' you…?" **(Will you tell me a story about you?)** Sephiroth nodded. "You 'ut eviwl Ewlf i' i'…?" **(Will you put an evil Elf in it?) **

"…I've had no missions with… elves."

"Uncwle Zack sayd hur' bad man who lookied like elf." **(Uncle Zack said you hurt a man who looked like an elf.)**

Sephiroth remembered Zack's parenting words: _to be a parent you must have imagination_. No doubt he'd been teaching her these fairytales of Elves and such.

"Once upon a time there was a war. A war with... the evil... Elves... They'd been... stealing..." Sephiroth was stuck. Was it alright to have evil Elves stealing drugs and weapons?

"Toilet rolls." He said the first thing that came to his mind. It was also something else to put on his shopping list.

For Sephiroth the story was stupid, he could not believe the nonsense that was coming out of his mouth. However, for Miley it was funny, exciting and enjoyable. Sephiroth couldn't understand it. What was so funny about evil Elves being vaporized by pink fluffy guns wielded by the good rabbits which were killing the evil elves because they wanted their toilet rolls back?

When the story ended, Miley was laying on her pillow laughing.

"Goodnight." Sephiroth said; sounding fed up. He stood and was about to turn her lamp off when her tiny voice prevented him from doing so.

"Daddy…!"

Sephiroth looked down at her. His hand was under the lampshade lightly pressing on the switch.

"You ain' kissied me 'night…!" **(You haven't kissed me goodnight!)**

"Since when have I ever _kissed_ you goodnight?" He questioned her, horrified at the thought. For the few days she had stayed with him… not once had he kissed her goodnight.

"Auntie Cissnei, Uncwle Gen'sis, Uncwle Angel, Uncwle Zack said 'ou should." **(Auntie Cissnei, Uncle Gen'sis, Uncle Angeal and Uncle Zack said that you should.)** Miley said.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and made a personal note to kill them all later, then he quickly, with much mental hesitation, pecked her on the cheek; a usual frown was on his face.

Miley giggled and kicked her tiny feet up and down.

Sephiroth turned her lamp off and then walked from the room.

"'Night-'night daddy…!" Miley called as he left.

He walked into his room and changed out of his leather boots and trousers, putting on comfortable dark grey jeans and a thick white cotton shirt with a small V-neck. He also changed his socks, feeling them beginning to stick between his toes.

Sephiroth sighed and sat down on the sofa.

The clock on the wall said half-past five. It would only be half an hour until his three friends came over to watch TV.

There was never much on that he liked, but there was the occasional film, this time it was a horror/torture film that he was looking forward to watching, being shown early on Shinra's very own movie channel.

Zack was bringing the food; Angeal was bringing a tape to record it on so they could rewind all the parts they would miss while Zack spoke and screamed. Genesis had nothing to bring but himself and Sephiroth had the drink… A lot of drink…

The first knock came. Sephiroth knew who it was. Angeal always arrived early, whereas Zack came late and Genesis always arrived on time.

Sephiroth opened the door and stepped aside as Angeal walked in.

"I thought you said you were bringing Zack?" Sephiroth asked.

"So did I. He...got distracted by... something."

"What was that? A puppy…?"

"Even though I have a hard time dragging him away from the pet shop, that's not it." He spoke, sitting on the sofa. "It was a race car."

"Ah, I see. He sees a car go by and then he chases after it, yipping as he runs." Sephiroth laughed lightly, walking into the kitchen then coming back with a box of six beers and a bottle of vodka.

"It was a toy car he saw in a shop window." Angeal muttered, ashamed that as a first class, his student was busy drooling on toy shop windows.

"How pathetic..." Sephiroth moaned.

"No doubt he's still standing in front of the shop, drooling on the window." Angeal laughed.

"As long as he doesn't buy it everything will be fine." Sephiroth said, also sitting down.

"Hmm…" Angeal let grunted in agreement. "Is Miley sleeping?"

Sephiroth nodded. "She wanted me to kiss her goodnight." He told Angeal through grit teeth.

"Did you?"

Sephiroth nodded.

"Well how could you resist a cute face little like that?" He teased.

"She said that you, Zack, Cissnei and Genesis told her I should."

"She's partly right… Zack said that you should and Cissnei agreed. Genesis and I laughed, trying to imagine your face when she told you."

Before Sephiroth could reply, the door opened and Zack rushed in.

"Ok! SorryI'mlate! Buttherewasagoodlookingcar! Ibroughtpretzelscrispsand-"

"What language is he speaking?" Sephiroth asked Angeal.

"I don't know, but I've been trying to find out for years."

Zack stopped talking and glanced around the room. "Isn't Miley gonna be joining us?"

Sephiroth shook his head. "She's sleeping. And she'd get nightmares."

Zack grinned. "You kissed her goodnight, didn't you?"

Sephiroth turned his head away and crossed his arms. "Maybe…" He replied gruffly.

"Zack…! Get off me!" Sephiroth yelled as Zack mockingly fell on him and held his face to his cheek; it was as if he were kissing him.

"Was it like this? Or was it a wet sloppy one to the mouth?" Zack shouted moving is face around from Sephiroth's cheek.

Genesis walked in to see Zack laying on Sephiroth kissing his lips.

"I now know why you never married again…" Genesis cruelly hinted.

Sephiroth opened his mouth to say something without thinking.

He managed to push Zack off him and tried to get the boys drool out from his mouth with his fingers. "Zack…!" He shouted angrily.

Sephiroth jumped to his feet and put Zack in a headlock, about to rip his head off his shoulders, but was greeted by an awoken Miley.

"Daddy…?"

Sephiroth did not turn around to see her.

"Wha' the noise…?" **(What's all the noise?)** She asked, rubbing her eyes with one small clenched hand and her forearm. In her other hand, with half of him lying on the floor, was Pancake.

"Nothing… We just have to punish Zack."

"Can watch?" **(Can I watch?)**

Angeal and Genesis smiled and tried not to laugh.

"No. Go to bed or there'll be no more stories!"

Miley walked back into her room, seemingly going to bed without a fight for the first time.

"A story too?" Genesis teased.

"Well, well, Sephiroth... You have been busy." Angeal teased also.

"What was it about?" Zack asked; regaining his breath as Sephiroth let go of him.

"She asked for a story with evil elves, vaporizing guns wielded by rabbits who wanted their toilet rolls back. She found it quite entertaining."

Angeal was kneeling on the floor, setting up the recording tape. "Have you decided how to break the news to Shinra?"

"No."

"Apparently there are twenty other people in his building who have children. Some of them have asked Shinra to build a school outside the building."

"What did he say?" Sephiroth asked.

"No. So I was wondering-"

"Sephiroth..." Genesis said. "Why is Miley blond?"

"She was so dirty that her hair had changed colour." Zack explained before Sephiroth could get a word out.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh…!" Angeal hissed as the film started.

It was the adverts when Miley came out of her room and stood in front of Sephiroth. "Can s'ay up?" **(Can I stay up?)**

"No. GO BACK TO BED." He harshly ordered her.

"No." Miley frowned, climbing onto Sephiroth's lap, shaking her head. "Don' wan' 'o!" **(I don't want too!)**

"Why? Can't you sleep?" Zack asked her kindly.

"No." She said and yawned afterwards.

"Go back to bed… NOW…!" Sephiroth shouted the last part at her, loudly clapping his hands together once, making her jump off his lap and dart back into her room.

Sephiroth sighed. "Is she still there?"

Zack looked behind and shook his head. "You didn't have to yell, Seph'."

"She won't come out of her room again. I know that from experience."

"What? You yelled at yourself?" Zack asked, confused.

"No. When I was little, I used to go to Banora and stay with Angeal during the holidays. His mother, Gillian, used to yell at us if we refused to go to bed. We wouldn't come out of our room after." Sephiroth explained.

"How old were you when you first went there?" Zack asked.

"He was three." Angeal told him.

"You got any pictures?" Zack loudly asked, longing to see Sephiroth as a spoiled toddler.

"Aunt Gillian does." Genesis grinned. "She took many pictures of all three of us all year round. She has pictures of Sephiroth from the age of three to twenty. She said that she was the closest thing to a mother he'd ever have, so she took pictures of him in the bath so she could embarrass him properly when he was older and had children of his own."

"You promised to never mention those pictures up!" Sephiroth shouted.

Genesis laughed. "Have you told her about Miley?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because then she'll want to meet her. And show her those pictures..."

Sephiroth frowned when Miley came out of her room again. Yelling was _supposed_ to work, if it did not, then he would have to find a _different_ form of discipline.

"What _now_?" he harshly asked, frowning at her.

"You didn' kiss Pancake 'night!" **(You didn't kiss Pancake goodnight!)** Miley cutely said, holding the stuffed toy up.

Genesis and Angeal smiled and Zack began laughing.

Sephiroth frowned. "..ROOM... NOW…"

Miley shook her head.

Sephiroth picked her up by her underarms and stormed back into her room with her.

"Daddy…!" Miley complained as she was dumped on her bed, and Sephiroth walked out. She wriggled off her bed and followed him back into the living room. Once again she was taken back to her room, but this time the door was shut and Sephiroth waited on the other side, crouched down; waiting for her to open the door. He had planned his crouched position so that when she opened the door he would be eye level with her, and less than an inch away from her face. He was couched slightly to the right to avoid being hit with the door.

"BACK TO BED…!" He loudly shouted, glaring daggers at her.

Miley let out a noise that was between a scream and a squeak, and then shut the door, running back to her bed in tears.

Sephiroth rose, satisfied, and sat down on his chair.

"That was cruel." Zack scolded, disapproving of Sephiroth's disciplinary measures.

"Well done Sephiroth." Genesis congratulated as the film started again. "I doubt she'll come out again after that."

They found it strange that Angeal only smiled and didn't say anything.

"Don't you have something to say? Angeal?" Genesis questioned.

Angeal kept smiling and quickly moved his eyes to Miley's door.

Sitting outside her door was Pancake, looking very floppy as he was propped against her door. He had a toy soldiers green hat on his head which was far too big for him.

Miley's door was slightly ajar with a little blond girl peeking out of it.

Zack stifled a laugh and Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

"Anything in your book to quote that, Genesis?" Angeal asked.

"_Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return._"

"Yeah, that suits her right about now." Angeal laughed.

"What's she doing with a toy Soldiers hat anyway?" Zack asked. He had never thought of little girls dressing as soldiers.

"She found it under her bed." Sephiroth replied, turning back to the TV.

On the television a woman was being stabbed to death. That was when Sephiroth decided that Miley should not be watching TV from behind her door. Just because she was hiding did not mean that she was not disobeying him and staying up.

Sephiroth once again stood and opened Miley's door.

Miley instantly backed away.

He picked her up and put her back in her bed.

Sephiroth lent over her, both his hands on either side of her as he glared into her eyes. "If you get out of bed one more time, then when everyone's gone you'll be spanked." Then he walked away, leaving Miley in her bed.

She didn't come out again and only left her bed to get Pancake off the floor.

"I' okay! I fas' 'sweep…!" **(It's okay! I'm fast asleep!)** Was the last thing she called out to them before drifting asleep.


	8. Chapter 6

Sephiroth was dreaming. There was a beautiful woman standing before him.

She was young, with long, light and feathery blond hair. It was long enough for her to sit on, yet just a little shorter than his own.

Her blue eyes sparkled, yet were full of sadness, tears like droplets of ice hung on her long dark eyelashes.

Her slender hands were griped lightly and held to her chest, just below her long thin neck.

She was beautiful, with pink lips and white skin.

She was wearing a long Chinese dress, white with a red dragon designed to wrap around it like rope. The split up the side travelled up to her hip, exposing a well-proportioned slender leg. Her feet were bare but decorated with silver anklets. Sephiroth stood and watched as the woman before him continued to cry, her sobs were soft, yet her tears were heavy.

"Katie…" He breathed.

A loud cough filled Sephiroth's dream-world, waking him from his slumber.

Sephiroth opened his eyes and ran his hand down his face. Every time he dreamt of Katie she was always crying. When Sephiroth found Miley he had begun to wonder… was she… crying for her child?

Sephiroth rolled over in his bed and sighed, it was one-in-the-morning and Miley had not stopped coughing. Suddenly missing the woman he had once known, Sephiroth pulled a long pink silk nightdress from his pillowcase. Holding it to his thin nose he breathed in the flowery scent. Having her nightdress with him was his secret; it was something that made him feel better, yet worse at the same time. He dozed off for a few moments, clutching the silk garment, then awoke again as the coughing became louder.

Miley was standing by his bedside, hugging Pancake, looking ghastly.

In the dark room Sephiroth could only see her dark silhouette, after quickly pushing the nightdress back into his pillowcase; he turned on his lamp and saw a very sticky child covered in mucus, sweat, and tears.

Looking at her tears reminded Sephiroth of his dream, when Miley was like this, crying, he realised just how much she looked like her mother. When she was happy, she was Katie's spitting image, it led Sephiroth's heart to a great sadness when Miley would smile, it was the same smile Katie had when she was a child.

"Go back to bed, Miley." He sighed, lying on his side as he watched the little girl beginning to crawl into his bed.

Small arms hugged around his front as Miley laid down, pressed against his chest, coughing and sneezing as she did.

Sephiroth tiredly stretched his arm to the bedside-table and lifted the neatly arranged notepad off it.

After scanning through a few pages he found what he was looking for.

_Should the child be ill, allow her to sleep with you, do not become angry, keep calm and take care of her in a kind manner. (Advice from Angeal.)_

Sephiroth sighed. He put the notepad back in its place and switched the lamp off.

"Da-ddy…" Miley choked out, getting a simple grunt in reply from her exhausted father. "Tell stowy…" **(Tell me a story…)**

Sephiroth sighed and rolled onto his back, Miley hugged his arm and buried her face in his chest; she wrapped the covers around herself and curled up.

"Once upon a time…" He began with a yawn. "There was a father who found a little monster and regretfully took it home with him. Then the monster became ill and refused to allow him to rest..."

The next morning Sephiroth sat on his bed, clipping his heavy silver pauldrons onto his shoulders.

"Get off me." He grumbled tiredly as Miley laid herself on his lap and gripped his coat, refusing to let go.

"Feewl…'ick…" **(I feel… sick…)** She moaned, pushing her face further into him.

"Sleep in your own bed until the feeling passes."

Miley replied with a series of dry gags and vomited on Sephiroth's coat.

Miley coughed a little more and moved herself away from Sephiroth, lying down on his pillow, not bothering to wipe her mouth.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and swallowed his anger. He began peeling his coat off, pulled his phone from the pocket and phoned Shinra, calling in sick. Something he rarely did.

Miley watched Sephiroth as her head was cushioned by his pillow; she listened to his constant apologies and 'Yes Sir's'.

Sephiroth glared at Miley as he dialled another number.

"Doctor," he began. "It's Sephiroth speaking. I've a very unwell child in my care…yes…that's what I said… a child in _**my**_ care."

Miley began coughing again. Sephiroth winced as she threw up on his pillow. "How soon can you get down here?" He asked.

A short while later a Doctor arrived. A strict look was plastered on his face.

He knew Sephiroth very well, having treated him when he was a child. Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal's wounds had remained a mystery, so had Reno's, Cissnei's and Katie's. They refused to tell him what had happened down to that very day, but he had been called to the Science department to treat them a number of times.

"Doctor Hilgrim." Sephiroth greeted, opening the door for the old-fashioned man.

He had very little hair left on his head and a shiny bald-patch in the centre, a pointed wrinkled face looking even more pointed because of his goatee beard. He wore a plain black tux, white shirt and black tie; he was also carrying a brown box-like bag.

Sephiroth had always known Hilgrim to be a very strict man, and a very old-fashioned Doctor. When Hojo had broken his arm and Hilgrim had treated him, the old man kept talking about how he hated using anaesthetists, and when he had dared to yelp in pain he was tugged and pulled and demanded to keep still.

"Sephiroth," he replied as he walked into the flat and then looked at Sephiroth with cold brown eyes. "You've grown since I last saw you."

"I'm no longer eighteen."

"My, has it been that long already?"

Sephiroth nodded. Seeing Hilgrim brought back some very unwanted memories, how the obvious cause for his and all the other children's injuries had escaped the Doctor's ignorant mind was beyond him.

"Where is the patient?"

Sephiroth led him through to his room and looked at Miley, lying on his clean bed sheets crying lightly.

"Why are you crying?" Sephiroth harshly demanded to know.

"You've left the window closed." Hilgrim observed; tutting. "How will her emotions escape this room if it is left unopened? And how will the sickness escape her?" He walked to the bed and tutted again, shaking his head as he looked down at Miley. "She slept in your bed last night."

"I was told that if she was—"

"Her sickness is anxiety boy!" Hilgrim expressed, his furry brow hanging over his eyes in a frown.

"…Anxiety…?" Sephiroth repeated.

"Yes," Hilgrim took his glasses off and held them in his hand, waving them back and forth as he spoke. "Well of course I don't expect someone of your generation to understand."

Sephiroth sighed mentally; he now remembered why had not called Hilgrim for almost a decade. It was the Doctor's olden ideas. Once, when he had been ill with an extremely rare case of flu, Hilgrim had covered his back with leeches.

"Children become too attached to a parent, being too young to understand emotions they become ill, an excuse for attention, sometimes resulting in death. I've told parents that this is the cause of that new 'cot death' nonsense but no one ever listens to us who have medical experience."

'_Since when has cot death been new?' _

"And I suppose you have been giving the child sweet things?"

Sephiroth did not reply; there was no point; he would let Hilgrim rant on all he wanted and then escort him from his home.

"You modern parents…the child must have meat boy! Meat! None of this…this…Penny-drops and sherbet licks."

'_You're going back a few years aren't you?'_ Sephiroth thought. Sherbet licks and penny-drops had disappeared in the early seventies, just a few years before he was born.

"Give her Cod-liver Oil." He said. "I trust that you still have a spoonful everyday." He said, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

"Not anymore, Genesis hasn't taken it since you stopped seeing him too."

"That Genesis! He has always been a trouble-maker! Well, tell him not to come crawling to me when his legs give 'way!" And with that he marched out the room and out the flat. Sephiroth followed close behind.

Sephiroth closed the front door and took a deep breath. Never again would he call Hilgrim.

He looked at the small figure emerging from his room, sniffing and shivering.

"To your own room." He said, gritting his teeth when she walked closer to him and held her hands up to him.

"You really expect me to hold you when you can't keep yourself from vomiting?"

Miley began to hiccup.

Sephiroth guided her into her room and into her cold bed. He looked at the open window and wondered when Hilgrim had been given the chance to open it.

He left the window open, perhaps Hilgrim had a point.

"What are your symptoms?" He demanded to know. Sighing when Miley wriggled out of her bed, walked to Sephiroth and hugged him.

Once again, Sephiroth lifted his phone from his pocket and dialled a number. "Genesis,"

"_What do you want Sephiroth?"_

"I have a number of items to buy and need you to take care of Miley."

"_I am not a baby-sitter."_

"I had Hilgrim over to see Miley's condition,"

"_Condition?"_

"She's very sick. I mentioned that you've stopped taking the cod-liver-oil." He grinned. "The doctor could be walking to your apartment right now."

"…_I'll be right over."_

Sephiroth flipped his phone shut and looked back down at Miley. She was hugging his leg tightly, and gripping his coat.

"Symptoms. Now."

Miley ignored him and chewed on her knuckles. Whining as Sephiroth bent down and pulled it out from between her teeth.

His actions resulted in tears and cries.

"Enough!"

At that moment, Genesis walked in. Looking very put-out.

"What did you do now, Sephiroth?" He asked as Miley toddled to him in tears and demanded him to pick her up.

Sephiroth frowned. "I removed her fist from her mouth. Is that a crime?"

Genesis lifted Miley off the floor. Unlike Sephiroth who had only glared at her.

"What's wrong with her exactly?"

"Influenza. I have to go and get her some medication, but she refuses to describe her symptoms."

"Is that a problem?"

"How am I to know which medicine's to get?" He asked, once again frowning.

"Ask Angeal. He's useful when it comes to health."

Sephiroth immediately walked out the flat and down the hall.

Genesis walked into Miley's room, carrying her as she coughed.

"You're father," Genesis said to Miley as he sat on her bed with her on his lap. "He's so naïve."

Miley began chewing her fist, a nervous habit.

"U-Uncwle Gen—" Miley complained as Genesis tucked her in bed and then began to leave the room.

"_Nothing shall forestall… my return_." He reassured her, backing from her room and searching the sitting room.

"Thank you, Genesis…" She heard her father growl as he entered the flat once again.

"It's no problem my friend."

"And you always go through your friends wallets?"

"You still keep a picture of her I see."

"Shut up." Sephiroth demanded.

"Don't you think she should at least see her photo? They do look very alike after all."

Miley heard her father leaving the room and slam the door behind himself.

A short time later, Genesis returned, carrying a hot-water-bottle.

"Here, the bottle of your liking." He said, tucking the furry, rabbit covered hot-water-bottle under her very pink sheets.

"Why has he opened the window?" Genesis mumbled, feeling the icy breeze on his face. "It's freezing in here."

He walked around the bed and to the window. He reached out pulled the window closed. Outside, it was raining heavily and there were objects blowing past in a vicious wind.

Genesis then turned around and saw Miley sleeping. He smiled, he remembered Katie, and Miley did look exactly like her.

"Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul. Pride is lost. Wings stripped away, the end is nigh…" Genesis revised as he left the room.

_Miley screamed in pain. Hojo stood over her. She was strapped down to a metal table with about three scientists surrounding her._

_One of them was holding her head still, the other pulling her eye open, Hojo was shouting orders as something sharp was pushed deep into her eye. It was a scalpel of some sort._

"_Silence!" Hojo shouted. "Why can't you just keep silent?" He reached out to slap her._

_As he slapped her, Miley's head turned. Standing in the doorway watching her was Sephiroth. She called out to him, but he turned and walked away._

Miley awoke. She coughed and in a panic fell from her bed, beginning to cry in the middle of her coughing fit.

Her nightmares were often memories of her time in Hojo's labs, the things that he had done to her remained fresh in her mind, as well as the things her consciousness added.

Miley pushed herself off the floor and dizzily toddled into the living-room.

Genesis caught sight of her. She had been asleep for about an hour and Sephiroth was still 'missing'.

He pulled Miley on his lap as she approached him. She clutched onto him tightly, coughing with tears pouring down her face.

Genesis was never so good with the comforting side of things; he wasn't even good with children.

"Let's go and see Angeal, shall we… little Goddess?" Genesis said, standing up and walking out the flat.

Angeal's apartment was a few doors away from Sephiroth's. As Genesis knocked on the door he could hear Zack talking and the loud noise coming from the television.

Genesis knocked again and no one answered.

"Angeal!" He impatiently called, becoming tired of the sticky child he was carrying.

"Angeal!" He called again.

Miley coughed and hiccupped, clenching onto Genesis' neck.

At last, the door opened. Zack stood there holding the door knob. At first he looked put out, but upon seeing Miley his expression changed and he pulled her from Genesis.

"Hey… What's wrong with you?" He asked, barely heard over the sound of the television. He cuddled Miley closely; feeling a bit hurt when she sobbed louder and reached towards Genesis.

Angeal was sitting down polishing his large sword. "Turn the volume down Zack!" He shouted.

"You made me answer the door so you can turn the volume down!"

Angeal grunted and carefully pushed his sword aside; he walked to the television and lowered the volume from level eighty-five down to number ten.

The extent of Miley's crying was suddenly established. She was leaning forwards, attempting to be held by Genesis once again.

"For goodness sake Zack!" Angeal scolded. "Hand her back to Genesis!"

Zack frowned and pouted but handed Miley back to Genesis, he was less than willing to take her.

"She was crying like this before Zack took hold of her." Genesis said as Miley reached out for him.

"Just hold her." Angeal sighed in a harsh tone, sounding very stressed as he rubbed his brow and then grabbed the bridge of his nose.

Genesis held Miley once again, not liking how sticky she was making him with her mucus, dribble, sweat and tears.

Miley let out long raspy sobs and phlegm filled coughs that she swallowed back down with a sickly sound and then would begin sobbing again.

"What started all this?" Angeal asked, watching as Zack rubbed Miley's head.

"Well…" Genesis began, raising his voice so he would be heard over Miley's tears. "She's very sick if that isn't… _obvious already_…" He strained his voice as his arm began to hurt a little since Miley was sitting on it. She was also crying into his neck, wiping her wet and gooey germs on him. "Sephiroth called me to take care of her while he went out to buy some medicine. I… offended him a little and he hasn't returned since."

Angeal sighed. "How long ago was that?"

"Yeah… What did you do?" Zack questioned.

Genesis didn't like how close Zack was and pushed him away with his arm that had been on Miley's back, causing the teenager to shout and stumble a little on one foot.

"I searched through his wallet for a certain photo and he caught me in the act… That was about an hour ago."

Angeal sighed once again. "Genesis…" He looked at Miley, she was coughing as she sobbed once again and only paused so she could swallow. "Miley, if you keep crying like that you'll make yourself sick." His words would have been kinder had he not been shouting over the child's cries.

"She's _been_ sick… several times apparently." Genesis said, moving forwards and sitting on a green leather chair. He tried to position Miley so she was sitting sideways on his lap, but she kept a strong hold on him, choosing to stand on his lap and clench the skin on his neck with her sharp nails.

Zack sat down on the sofa and Angeal sat next to him.

"You and Zack, switch places." Angeal tiredly said.

"Huh? Why?" Zack asked, looking to his left at his mentor.

"You'll see."

Zack groaned and mumbled incoherent words. He sat on Genesis seat and watched him sit next to Angeal.

"I feel like I've been outcast!" Zack loudly complained.

Angeal ignored him and pulled Miley from Genesis. She was like a limped with limbs, refusing to let go of Genesis neck.

As soon as she was pulled away, two long thin whelps could be seen on Genesis' neck from where Miley had scratched.

Genesis held a hand to his throat and watched Angeal sit Miley on his own lap. He patted and rubbed her back, causing her to stop struggling and physically relax, although her cries didn't.

"Perhaps she's tired." Zack suggested, leaning forwards, resting his arms on his knees.

"She's slept the entire hour Sephiroth has been gone." Genesis answered, standing up and pulling his jacket and pauldrons off, he folded his jacket in half and threw it over the back of the sofa.

"How did she sleep?" Angeal suddenly asked, looking at Genesis intensely. He rubbed Miley's back and felt her lean against him.

Genesis sat down, trying to avoid sitting on the tiny trembling feet. "She awoke like this." He replied. "She hasn't said a word to me."

"Zack, go warm some milk for Miley." Angeal rubbed Miley's back in circles and had his other hand on her stomach. One of Miley's hands was clenching Angeal's shirt, the other was clenching his hand on her stomach.

Zack let out a whining noise, muffled since his mouth was closed and walked into the kitchen.

"Warm it! Don't boil it!" Angeal called after him.

"Miley," Genesis sighed. "Settle down…"

Miley continued to cry and jumped out of her skin when the front door swung open and Sephiroth stormed inside.

"You could have at least left a note Genesis!" He loudly said; he was in the foulest of moods.

"You're behaving this way simply because I went through your belongings?"

Sephiroth frowned down at him.

"Anyway, we're trying to understand exactly what is wrong with your daughter."

Sephiroth looked at the sobbing child clutching Angeal.

"Be nice." Angeal warned as Sephiroth opened his mouth to speak.

Zack walked out from the kitchen and looked at Sephiroth. "Hey Seph!" He greeted. "Can you get me one of Miley's toddler cups?"

"They're by the sink." Sephiroth answered.

Zack moaned and walked out the apartment. "I have to do everything around here."

Sephiroth walked past Genesis and knelt down in front of Miley.

"Look at me." He demanded.

Miley was hiding her face in Angeal's shirt, refusing to look at him for some unknown reason.

"I said, _look at me_." He reached out, grabbed Miley's chin and twisted it towards himself.

Miley batted his hands away and pushed her face into Angeal once again.

Genesis smirked. "What on earth have you done to upset her?"

"It must be something to do with _you_ rather than me."

Zack returned with a bright pink toddler cup, walked into the kitchen, filled the cup with warm milk and then walked back into the sitting room.

"Thank you Zack." Angeal said, taking the cup from him and handing to Miley.

Miley continued to cry and refused to take the drink being held out to her.

"Drink some of this." Angeal said, pushing the spout of the cup towards her mouth. "It'll make you feel better."

Miley shakily took the cup and her eyes began to drop shut as she drank from it.

She was quiet, and Genesis' ears delighted in the moments quiet.

Sephiroth stood and sat on a wooden dinning chair that was pushed against the wall on Angeal's left and Zack sat in the armchair he had been sitting in before.

Miley coughed and took in a long jagged gasp of air. Some milk fell from her open mouth and stained her nightdress.

Angeal patted her back as she coughed, seemingly unable to regain her breath.

Sephiroth watched from his distance as Miley laid against Angeal's chest, having finished her coughing and began to lightly cry.

"Miley," Angeal said, looking into Miley's face. "Why are you sad?"

Miley replied in a series of raspy stutters, coughs and sobs.

"Shh…" Sephiroth hushed her, rising from his seat he knelt before her again.

Miley pushed her face back into Angeal.

"Why won't you look at me?" He wondered aloud, a question to himself as well as demanding an answer from Miley.

"D… donmameobatHodo…!" She begged, coughing and sobbing, turning her head and looking Sephiroth right in the eyes.

He was confused, as was everyone else.

"What did you say?" Genesis pushed, sliding one gloved finger up and down the clean sole of her foot, he had been doing that for quite a while now.

"P'ease!" She begged. "P'ease!" She began squealing loudly, crying just as badly as she had done before.

Zack scratched the back of his head. "Why would we leave you with Hojo?"

All eyes were suddenly on him.

"You understood what she said?" Sephiroth spoke.

Zack nodded. "Don't make me go back to Hojo. That's what she said."

Angeal pushed his head close to the crown of Miley's. "We're not taking you back to Hojo." He reassured her.

"D-da'ydi'!"

"Daddy did." Zack translated.

Sephiroth looked confused. "Give her here." He demanded, holding his arms out.

Angeal pulled Miley off himself and struggled to leave her with Sephiroth.

Miley shrieked, trying to get away from Sephiroth and back to Angeal.

Sephiroth sat back down on the chair with her and pushed her head against his head, attempting to calm her and stop her from thrashing.

Miley did in the end make herself physically sick; it was due to the sickness as well as her consistent crying.

Miley calmed down a little once the white vomit had stopped leaking from her mouth.

"When did I send you back to Hojo?" Sephiroth slowly asked her.

"G-Genmaeboleatheoumakgoba…T-toHodo!" Miley sobbed loudly. Her chin and lower lip was covered with a layer of white sick and she continued to open her mouth widely to sob.

"Genesis made her a bottle and then you made her go back to Hojo…" Zack thought for a while. "Or something like that."

Genesis smiled a little. "She was dreaming…"

"Dreaming." Angeal repeated.

Genesis nodded. "I made her a bottle and then she went to sleep."

Miley began biting her knuckles, muffling her sobs. Sephiroth pulled her hand away from her mouth and stood up with her.

"I'll knock her out with some sleeping pills." He said.

"Alright… be kind to her." Angeal answered.

Sephiroth took Miley back to his apartment, he took her into the bathroom and turned the taps on. He knew that a bath would defiantly make her feel better, also smell better.

As the bath ran Sephiroth unbuttoned the top of Miley's nightdress and pulled it over her head.

Miley continued to sob and mucus and vomit stuck to her hair and her hair stuck to her wet nose as she was rid of her clothing.

Sephiroth turned the taps off and lifted her into the bath, all the while thinking of how Katie would have handled this situation.

"D-don' sends ba' ta'… H-Hodo daddy." **(Don't send me back to Hojo daddy.) **Miley begged as her face was cleaned with a sponge.

Sephiroth sighed and began washing her arms. "I'm not sending you back to Hojo. I thought we'd established that already."

Miley's cries slowly lessened and she was left alone when Sephiroth left to get her some clean nightclothes and pull-up.

Sephiroth pulled a long, yellow, long-sleeved nightdress out of Miley's bottom draw. It had Victorian looking frills around the bottom and in a square-shape around the neck with buttons down the front. He also lifted a pull-up out of her middle draw and made his way back to the bathroom.

Miley had finally fallen asleep, no sleeping pills were needed. She was curled against the wide rounded area of the bath, lightly chewing on her fist with a rubber duck clenched in her hand.

Sephiroth put her folded clothing on the toilet seat and began washing Miley's hair. She moaned and batted his hands away as they touched her soapy scalp, coughing and whining as he did. When a large amount of water was poured over her head, washing away the shampoo, Miley awoke crying, not expecting the waters attack.

"I'm almost done." Sephiroth said, trying to stop her from crying again.

He finished rinsing her hair and pulled her from her warm bath. He quickly dried and dressed her, brushed and plaited her hair then carried her back to bed.

He had just finished tucking her in when she awoke, grabbing hold of his hand with a desperate look on her face.

"D…don' ba' ta' Hodo…" She begged again, exhausted.

Sephiroth stared at her face and quickly stood. "I'm not sending you back to Hojo." He picked a bottle off the bedside-table and filled the cap with a sticky sickly, pink fluid. "Drink this."

He was giving her strawberry flavoured cough-syrup. The woman in the chemist had recommended it for young children since it stopped their coughing and knocked them out.

Miley dipped her tongue into the cap and scrunched her face up. It tasted disgusting!

Sephiroth held her nose and forced her head back. When she screamed and coughed he tipped the fluid into her mouth and then let go of her.

Miley began crying again but quickly fell asleep.

After taking a final glance at his daughter, Sephiroth left the room.


	9. Chapter 7

Miley toddled along the street with Sephiroth. He'd given in and allowed her to hold his hand. She'd been told she was going to 'Nursery-school', although… that was all that she had been told.

"What' Nerswyskol?" **(What is nursery-school?)** Miley asked Sephiroth.

"Somewhere you're going to spend the day at. There are lots of other children." He told her, silently dreading having to walk into a building full of snot-nosed-kids.

"Like park?" She asked putting Pancake's ear in her mouth and chewing on it. Since she'd been told she couldn't suck her thumb she'd been putting everything else in her mouth.

Sephiroth shook his head. "You'll see when we get there." Sephiroth opened a bright, yellow painted gate that led to a big colourful building with many toys outside.

"Wait here." He ordered, while he went to see one of the assistants to tell them that Miley was there.

"Okay. And that's Miley over there?" The woman asked, pointing to Miley who had climbed to the top of the slide.

"Yes." Sephiroth said, watching Miley laughed as she slid down the slide.

"She's very pretty. You must be so proud." Sephiroth said nothing, only crossed his arms.

Miley ran to Sephiroth with a smile on her face. "'Ou see'd me go swide?" **(Did you see me go down the slide?)** She asked loudly and excitedly, tugging on his coat.

"Yes. I have to go now." He patted her on the head and starting to walk away.

"Daddy!" Miley shrieked; sounding hurt as she latched onto his leg, not wanting him to leave. She had tears in her big blue eyes. Sephiroth sighed as she started crying.

"I suggest that you go." The woman known as Mrs. Ashton sighed, holding Miley. "Most children do this on their first few days." Sephiroth walked away unfeeling as Miley continued to cry.

Once back in the SHINRA building, Sephiroth was almost relieved not to have Miley there humming, or asking silly questions. It was on the first night of parenting when he realised just how sorry he should have felt for Angeal once Zack was put under his care.

"Yo." Reno greeted, walking to Sephiroth, who was making his way to his office. "Where's little Blondie…?"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. Reno ALWAYS got on his nerves. "Nursery-school." He said continuing to walk to his office, making sure that he left Reno behind.

Once in his office he was happy to sit down and work. For the last few days Miley had gone into the office with him, his paper work and computer work had taken more than double the time.

And once the paper-work was done he went back to his flat and for the first time in a month he was able to relax in silence.

_'Television,' _He thought. He'd been so busy with Miley that he hadn't had any time to watch it. Sephiroth frowned as he flicked through the channels. _'Miley is NOT here. There MUST be SOMETHING on!'_

Sephiroth soon found himself bored stiff. Had Miley REALLY had this effect on him?

_'Let me see... what did I do BEFORE Miley came here?'_ He searched his memory but found nothing except Zack constantly annoying him.

He was almost happy when it was time to get Miley. He had just walked through the gate when he saw Miley through the window playing with another little girl. As soon as she saw him she ran to the window and put her hands on the glass while smiling at him. Sephiroth tapped on the window as he walked past.

"Daddy!" Miley shouted as soon as she saw Sephiroth.

Sephiroth patted her on the head as she hugged his leg. "I pwayed a game!" **(I played a game!)** Miley told him excitedly.

"Good. You can tell me about it when we're outside." He said, wanting her to shut up for the time being.

Mrs. Ashton soon turned to Sephiroth to talk about Miley's strange behaviour, making sure that Miley was back with the other children so she couldn't hear.

"She's a very good girl, but we did have a few problems, such as the alphabet. She can't get past the letter A, which is very strange and she kept talking about someone who was going to get her and put her in a room because she couldn't get it right. She was very stressed."

Sephiroth sighed. "She dealt with serious torment at a certain point in her life; she's out of that person's care now. I'll try and deal with this once I get home."

"Her language skills are a little strange as well. She leaves out quite a few words and often asks people _what_ they are instead of _who_ they are. She's not very skilled with her animals either. She doesn't know the names of them or the noises they make. At this age it is a little worrying. Wetting herself is another matter."

Sephiroth sighed. He knew Miley wasn't toilet trained and had been trying to get it through her head that when she needed the loo she would go to the toilet, use the pot Cissnei had purchased for her, or tell somebody. "Like I said, she dealt with neglect. I'll get her to work on them."

She smiled. "Okay that's everything. So you're free to take her now. Miley!" She shouted clapping her hands twice. Miley just continued what she was doing.

Sephiroth frowned and gruffly called her. "Come here!"

"'Ot doneded yet'!" **(I'm not done yet!)** Miley sang, still sitting on the floor holding Pancake in one hand and a doll in the other, while also playing with a little black haired girl.

Sephiroth glared at her. "Don't make me come to you." Miley moaned and walked to Sephiroth. "Do as your teacher tells you."

Mrs. Ashton smiled and bent down. "Put your coat on please." Miley looked up at Sephiroth.

"Ou' do bu'ons." **(You do up the buttons.)** Sephiroth rolled his eyes as he was dragged to the very low coat hangers by Miley, she took her coat off the hanger and handed it to him to help her put it on.

"Where are your shoes?"

Miley pointed to the small shelves behind him where her brown shoes with little teddy heads stitched onto them were neatly put. Sephiroth reluctantly helped her step into them and then pushed her out the door.

"Bye-bye!" Miley shouted as she and Sephiroth walked away from the nursery. "I come bac' 'morrow!" **(I'll come back tomorrow!)**

"Why have you got your hood up?" Sephiroth asked raising a silver eyebrow at her.

"'Cause i' haf' funny ear' 'n nose." **(Because it has funny ears and a funny nose.)** Miley told him while fiddling about with the pink mouse ears on her hood.

It had been Cissnei that bought Miley the coat. The only way to describe it was 'cute'. It had big round pink ears, a pink nose, the rest was white and it had a pink trimming and big pink pockets.

"Dwaw pic'ure 'or 'ou 'day!" **(I drew a picture for you today!)** Miley said while reaching into the little plastic Chocobo handbag Zack had given her.

"Show me when you get home. And _dwaw_, _pic'ure_, and _'ou, _are NOT proper words." Miley looked up at him confused. "Say the sentence again."

"Don' wans' to." **(I don't want to.)** Miley moaned.

"And that sentence should be 'I don't want to.'"

Miley ignored him. "I pway wif' pway-doo 'day. I' were lo's o' colour." (**I played with play-dough today. It was a lot of colours.)**

Sephiroth sighed and stopped trying to get Miley to repeat herself. He'd ask Angeal to help him later. "Did you really?"

Miley nodded. "Yes! An' singed happy know' i' an clap my hands!" **(Yes! And I singed happy if you know it and I clapped my hands!)** She shouted the last part, making the word 'Yes' sound like she was stating a fact.

"Interesting…" Sephiroth mumbled as she clapped her hands as if to prove that she'd done it in the song.

"Have'd owangeee dwingk an a c-co-cooci!" **(I had an orange drink and a cookie!)**

_'She can't even say the words drink and cookie...' _Sephiroth thought while trying not to sigh. "Really…?" He tried his best to sound interested.

"Have'd storwy n' hat go sweep! Waked up 'n watchied Souti 'n sweep! i' were funny!" **(I had a story then I had to go to sleep! I woke up and watched Sooty and Sweep! It was funny!)** She laughed making Sephiroth smile a little, it surprised him, and part of him beat himself up for letting his guard down.

"I tewl Uncwle Angel 'n Uncwle Zack, Uncwle Gen'sis 'bout 'day! N' Auntie Cissnei!" **(I'll tell Uncle Angeal and Uncle Zack, Uncle Genesis about today! And Auntie Cissnei!)**

"Cissnei's still on a mission."

"Oh... But I wan' tewl now!" **(Oh…But I want to tell her now!)** Miley whined.

Sephiroth frowned at her. "Tell her when she comes back." He said through grit teeth.

"I tewl when come bac' 'en." **(I'll tell her when she comes back then.)** Miley shouted happily, running ahead.

_'I still can't believe that she's MY DAUGHTER...' _Sephiroth thought as Miley ran ahead of him almost tripping over in the meantime.

"I have baf 'nigh'?" (Am I going to have a bath tonight?) She asked as she picked Pancake off the floor.

Sephiroth nodded. "Yes. And you're not to get the floor wet again."

Miley pouted, amusing Sephiroth, and then skipped ahead.

"NOT IN THE ROAD!"

Miley stopped as soon as she heard her father shout. As she turned around he was already standing next to her.

"Hand," He demanded, rolling his eyes as he was reduced to holding a toddler's hand.

'_This wouldn't happen if you used those child reigns Cissnei bought you.' _One side of his brain said.

'_I refuse to walk to the Shinra building with a child on a string. It's just as bad as having a poodle.'_

Sephiroth felt a strong grip on his hand and looked down. Miley was smiling up at him now holding his hand with both of her small ones.

"What?" He coldly questioned her, his eyes narrow.

"Ice cweom…" **(Ice cream…)**

"No," Was his strict reply as he began walking.

Miley stood still planning not to move. She shrieked and fell when Sephiroth yanked her forwards.

"Let me explain something to you, child." He began, "Stop crying! When you are with me there will be no tantrums, no begging, no talking back, and no stops for your personal liking. Am I clear?"

Miley rubbed her eye and continued to cry.

Sephiroth lifted his arm a little until Miley was on her feet. He frowned when she refused to stand.

"Get up!" He hissed, pulling on her once again. His reply was a loud series of shrieks and words he couldn't understand as his hand was bitten and clawed.

Miley hung backwards, trying to get her hand out of his. So, Sephiroth let go, making Miley fall to the floor, kicking and screaming. The only word he understood was ice cream.

"Fine. Stay here then." He said, walking away in his usual stride, causing his long leather jacket to swing from side to side.

Miley looked up as Sephiroth walked away, she immediately panicked. "Daddy! Daddy!" She called horrified when he didn't stop.

'_If she thinks I'm going back for her she can forget it.' _Sephiroth though, completely missing the walking away technique.

"Daddy!" Miley sobbed as Sephiroth disappeared around a corner. She got up and ran after him, toddling as fast as she could.

Sephiroth was half way around the corner when he heard tiny footsteps chasing him and his 'new name' constantly being cried out by a very squeaky desperate voice.

"If I ever find the man who invented the word 'daddy' I'll stab him in the neck." He growled as the little white creature known as Miley latched herself onto him.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" He demanded clearly.

"Daddy…Don' le' Hodo ea' me!" **(Daddy… Do not let Hojo eat me!)**

Sephiroth sighed, he had a strange longing to walk into the nearest pub and drink all the vodka they had.

'_And when all the vodka's gone I'll start on the red whine.'_

When they got back, Miley ran in circles around the building looking for her Uncles.

"Uuunnnccwwwllleee Annngggeeeelll!" She called; running around as Sephiroth tried to catch her with a furious look on his face.

"Uuunnnccwwwllleee Zaaaaccckkkkk-OW!" She shouted as she fell back after bashing into Genesis' leg.

"Heh… Sorry Miley..." Genesis apologised, pulling her onto her feet. "Couldn't keep up with her Sephiroth? You must be slipping in you wonderful ways."

"You try chasing after a toddler. You either go so slow you can be confused for a snail, or so fast you trip over the shrieking thing."

Genesis smirked. "Sephiroth, you can never be confused for a snail. The snail is much less slimy."

"Where Uncwle Angel…?" Miley whined, tugging on Genesis' coat.

"You'll get to see him later. He had a lot of work to do." Genesis replied, then looking at Sephiroth. "Zack said to tell you that he's going to watch television at your apartment, he also said he was dragging the rest of us along."

Sephiroth closed his eyes and sighed. "What time?" He asked ignoring Miley who was pulling on his boot. He bent his knee slightly so she'd get knocked back.

"Ah…!" Miley squeaked as she was knocked onto her backside.

"An hour's time…"

Sephiroth nodded.

"Ou' see pic'ure now?" (**You see my picture now?)** Miley asked Genesis excitedly, while holding up her bag.

"I'll see it later. I have a report to give to Lazard." Then he walked away.

Sephiroth looked down at Miley. "Upstairs." He took Miley's hand so she wouldn't run away.

Once they were in the lift Sephiroth looked at Miley's muddy shoes. He closed his eyes and sighed as he lifted her up.

"Piggy-back!" Miley shouted, trying to climb over his thick shoulder.

"No! I'm not Zack; I don't carry you for pleasure."

There was a ding sound and the lift doors opened. Sephiroth walked out, still carrying Miley and took her shoes off as he unlocked the door to his apartment. Once inside, he sat Miley on the sofa and put her shoes by the door on a sheet of newspaper taken from the table.

"Take your clothes off…" He sighed, guiding her to her room so he could run a bath.

"Daddy does i'!" **(Daddy, you do it!)** She shouted, toddling to him and pulling on his leather coat.

"No. You can do it yourself." He gruffly told her as he continued to walk away. "Children can't be that incapable…" He mumbled under his breath.

He turned the taps on and watched as the water filled the bath, making sure it was not to hot this time before he walked back into Miley's room.

"I thought I told you to get UN-dressed!" Sephiroth shouted angrily at her when he found her in her bedroom still in her coat playing with her toys.

"Can' do i'…" **(I can't do it…)** She moaned, lifting her arms up as he came near her.

Sephiroth glared as he helped undress and then took her into the bathroom. A minute later Miley was in a bath full of bubbles. Sephiroth had decided that he needed a shower. There'd be no time when Miley got out of the bath, so he made a very brave decision, something he never thought he'd do.

"Daddy…?" Miley asked, looking up her father who was taking off his big leather jacket. "Wha' ou' doing'?" **(What are you doing?)**

"You're having a bath; I'm going to have a shower." He answered, walking out the bathroom and coming back with his towel wrapped around his waist. Miley for some reason thought this was funny and began laughing with her small hands over her mouth. Sephiroth looked at her. He didn't smile but he had an amused look in his eye. He climbed into the shower, shut the cloudy glass door and swung the towel over the top so he could grab it when he needed it.

Miley spun around and around in the bath singing one of her own songs to herself. "The' big fing comed! I' eated-!"

"You better not be getting that floor wet!" Sephiroth's loud voice came from the shower as he washed his long hair.

Miley looked down at the drenched floor. The bath-mat was practically swimming in water. "No!" She lied in a whiny voice, sounding very sweet.

Sephiroth frowned in the shower and rinsed his hair out. "Don't lie!"

Miley said nothing but lined her ducks up on the side of the bath and gave them all names. She looked up as Sephiroth turned the shower off and stepped out with the towel around his waist. He put one foot on the floor when he slipped and hit a certain area on the rim of the shower.

Miley laughed as he grit his teeth and bent over, not realising that the towel had dropped when he had.

"Hey! Seph…! Where are ya'!" Zack's voice called as he walked into the bathroom. "Whoa!" He shouted, covering his eyes as Sephiroth grabbed the towel and stood up. "There are some things NO man should see!"

"Is Angeal here yet?" Sephiroth asked, regaining his stamina as he walked into his bedroom to get changed.

"No. He's coming later." Zack said; un-shielding his eyes. "I'm going to Angeal's flat, back in a minute Seph'!" He called, before rushing out the front door.

Sephiroth walked back into the bathroom a short while later, dressed only in grey socks and black cotton trousers. "Out." He ordered Miley, who was still in the bath. She shook her head.

"I' ain't winkly 'nough yet!" **(I'm not wrinkly enough yet!)** She stated, holding her hands up.

Sephiroth frowned at her. "If you don't get out now I'll pull the plug out." He threatened, kneeling down. Miley instantly crawled to the other end of the bath and sat on the plug, then poked her tongue out at him.

"Getting cheeky isn't she." Angeal said from the doorway.

Sephiroth stood and looked at his friend. "Too much time with Zack..." He grumbled. "How did you get in?"

"Zack left the door open."

"As usual."

"Genesis is here too."

"Oh joy…"

"Daddy! Yoo' can' pull plug when I' in i'!" **(Daddy! You can't pull the plug out while I'm in the bath!)** Miley shouted while shaking her head. "I' falled downd i'!" **(I'll fall down it!)**

"You're not _that_ skinny." Sephiroth moaned, grabbing the chain to the plug and pulling it out from under her.

Miley crossed her arms with a pout on her face.

"She's mastered the power of pouting then." Angeal laughed.

Sephiroth said nothing but wrapped a towel around her and dragged her out. "I WAS in a good mood. But someone got the floor wet."

"I' not me!" (**It wasn't me!)** She shouted as she was dried off. "I' were Nissy!" **(It was Nissy!)** She pointed the yellow duck on the side of the bath.

Sephiroth frowned. "Then I'll have to take… '_Nissy_' away."

"No…!"

Angeal watched in surprise from the doorway. Sephiroth was beginning to act like a real father.

"Genesis will be here soon." He told Sephiroth, watching as Sephiroth dried Miley.

"What are you all coming over to watch anyway?" Sephiroth asked as he put Miley's night dress over her head and made her step into her pull-ups.

Angeal smiled. "Zack wants to watch the football. He's gone out quickly to buy drinks and snacks. He raided your fridge and found nothing."

"I know; I desperately need to go shopping." He replied as Miley ran into the living room. "This month has been the most expensive. Why do children need so much?"

Angeal grinned as they both walked into the sitting room. "At least you didn't have to buy her clothing. That would have cost a bomb. And I saw Cissnei in a children's shop today. I know that she's been helping you a lot. She's the one who bought the pram and child-reigns."

Sephiroth sighed. He remembered when Cissnei had introduced the two new items to him. He had only used the child-reigns once, and that was bad enough, walking around the Shinra building with a child on a string, and then he was expected to _push_ Miley around the gardens in a chair on wheels when her legs are perfectly stable! Miley hadn't been too happy either though. She hated the pram and did everything she could so she wouldn't be put into it. Less to say, with Sephiroth and Cissnei's strength, they had managed to strap her in.

Sephiroth sat down in a chair and looked around, wondering where Miley was.

"How are you enjoying parenthood?" Genesis asked as he read through his all too famous LOVELESS book.

"As much as you enjoy having a stick shoved up your—"

"Daddy…!" A little voice shouted running back into the living and jumping on Sephiroth with a piece of paper in her hands. "See pic'ure now?" (**You see my picture now?)**

Sephiroth looked at her and nodded, the sooner he saw this picture the sooner Miley would be quiet about it.

"Very good..." He sighed, not very enthusiastic as he looked at the scribbled piece of paper that had been handed to him. "A picture of building blocks, to daddy." He read from the back of the paper. The teacher had obviously written it there.

Miley was delighted and instantly ran to Angeal and Genesis to show it to them.

"The sweet little Goddess is turning into a sweet little artist." Genesis smiled when he saw her picture, which was quickly flashed to Angeal.

Angeal nodded approvingly. "It's very good. Sephiroth, you should hang it on the wall."

Sephiroth looked horrified. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You can hang it on the wall between the windows." He lowered his gaze. "Or should I do it myself?"

Sephiroth stood up, opened a draw, and opened a packet of blue-tack.

"Uncwle Zack?" Miley said, looking around for the third missing Uncle.

"He's gone to my flat to get something." Angeal told her.

"Oh…" She said as Sephiroth took the picture from her hands and attached it to the wall. "What' he go'ed t' ge'?" **(What's he gone to get?)**

Angeal smiled. "A little something for you."

Miley's face lit up, she jumped from leg to leg, squealing excitedly with her fists clenched and held close to her chest.

"I'm back!" Zack called as he opened and closed the door, causing a satisfying click to emerge as he pushed it shut.

"Wha' 'ou ge' me?" **(What did you get me?)** Miley cried excitedly, rushing to Zack.

He grinned down at her like a Cheshire cat. "This," From a plastic bag in his arms he pulled out a big box, wrapped in fancy paper.

Sephiroth frowned in confusion as he finished pressing the picture onto the wall and looked at his three friends.

"We all put together." Angeal explained.

"It's rather depressing when a small child doesn't know what a toy doll is." Genesis added.

"A baby Annabelle." Zack finished, handing the box to the bouncing girl.

"She has plenty of toys." Sephiroth growled.

"She has a dolls house, teddies and a few games you have only played with her once. I can't see the harm in her having a doll." Genesis said as he turned a page of his book.

"A doll that make's noises no doubt." Sephiroth looked towards the _two_ 'children' ripping the wrapping paper apart. "Zack! Don't leave it on the floor!"

Zack looked up and poked out his tongue, it was only wrapping paper, and it could hardly break anyone's neck.

Angeal sighed. "Let her unwrap it herself, Zack."

Zack pulled his hands away and continued to crouch and bounce on his heels. Miley sat on the floor with her legs spread, attempting to unwrap the hidden box.

The box was finally uncovered, and Miley could see through the clear packaging.

"It what I always wanted!" She shouted happily, after a few excited and dramatic gasps. She stood, walked to Genesis, and tugged on his trouser leg. "What is it?"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes, Angeal laughed, as did Genesis, whereas Zack roared with laughter.

"It's your very own child." Genesis told her.

Zack ruffled about with the packaging, trying to get the plastic and rubber toys out.

"Oh," Miley still looked up at him, as if she was still expecting an answer.

"A baby Annabelle, you've seen her on the T.V, haven't you?" Angeal questioned, leaning forward.

Miley shook her head.

"Just play with the thing." Sephiroth demanded, falling onto a seat, now in a worse mood.

"Sephiroth…" Angeal hissed, scolding his friend.

"What a baby?" **(What's a baby?)**

All eyes turned onto Miley, surprised. "You've avoided this subject for what reason, Sephiroth?" Genesis asked.

"You know the reason."

"I think it's a little early for her to ask about the facts of life." Angeal said.

"No age is ever too early." Sephiroth replied.

Zack turned away from the conversation to explain what a baby was. "A baby is…well…When someone comes alive, they look like this." He handed Miley the doll as if he was handling a real infant. "They're all soft and squishy, they don't have much hair, and they can't talk and have no teeth."

Miley looked very confused. "Then, they grow! And they look like you and the other children, then they grow some more and look like grown ups."

"I'll show you tomorrow." Angeal told her. "I have a friend in hospital, she's just given birth." He said to Sephiroth and Genesis.

"You're sure it's not yours?" Genesis teased.

"I'm sure, I've never sle—"

"Shush! It's starting!" Zack hushed them, holding a finger to his lips as the football game started.

It was half-way through the game when Sephiroth looked at the clock on the wall and realised it was past Miley's bedtime.

"Bedtime." He said to the bored little girl on his lap.

"No…! Don' wan' go bed!" **(No…! I don't want to go to bed!)** She shouted as she was lifted up.

Sephiroth didn't say anything, only carried her to her room and tucked her into bed. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess, and she lived to be a queen, the end." He mumbled, and then pecked her on the cheek quickly with a disgusted look on his face, then walked out the room.

"Very interesting story…" Zack smiled sarcastically.

"That' no' a storwy!" **(That's not a story!)** Miley shouted, coming out of her room.

"It is tonight. Goodnight." Sephiroth said waving her away.

"No!" She shouted sitting on the floor crossed legged by his feet.

Sephiroth looked down at her and frowned. Where had she learnt to speak to him like this? He was beginning to wonder where the sobbing nervous little lab-girl had gone.

"If you don't go to bed now you'll be spanked." He threatened while bending down and looking her in the face.

"No! I stay up wi' ou' nigh'…!" **(No! I'll stay up with you tonight…!)**

Sephiroth glared at her.

"Do as your father says, Miley…" Genesis warned as he turned a page of his book. "He means what he says…"

Miley said nothing but sat with her small arms and legs crossed.

"I'll be back in a minute. A little girl needs to be spanked." Sephiroth growled as he stood up.

"No!" Miley shouted, sounding worried this time.

"Then BED!" He yelled.

Miley's eyes began to fill up with tears, and her bottom lip began to quiver.

"Don't be too hard on her, Seph…" Zack said quietly, but was silenced by Angeal.

"She needs to learn who's in charge, and now's the time for her to learn." Angeal explained as a screaming child was lifted off the floor by her wrists and carried into her bedroom.

Everyone heard Miley throwing her tantrum, Angeal understood that it was because she was mostly tired and wanted to stay up with them as she'd hardly seen them all day.

There was an eerie silence until a loud sound of skin hitting skin filled the room making Zack jump out of his skin. Angeal had closed his eyes while Genesis had remained unbothered.

Sephiroth walked back in with a satisfied frown on his face. Closing the door behind him to block out Miley's loud sobs.

"Well done." Angeal said, opening a can of beer and giving it to Sephiroth, who took a long drink from it.

Miley didn't get up again that night.


	10. Chapter 8

"The war in Wutai is progressing badly." Lazard stated sitting behind his desk with his gloved fingers laced. A stern look was firmly planted on his face as he spoke.

"There have been recent demands for Shinra to dispatch you three there. And the President has agreed."

Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis stood before Lazard; they all had serious looks on their faces.

"For how long should we be out there?" Sephiroth finally spoke.

"It's a war zone, one you were pushed into at a delicate age of five—"

"Just answer my question." He coldly demanded.

"You know that cannot be estimated. The most I can provide you with is a leaving date."

"Which is?" Angeal asked.

"For you and Genesis: twenty-four hours." He looked towards Sephiroth. "As you have a child, Sephiroth, you have been given forty-eight hours, hopefully enough time to provide the essential care for Miley."

Angeal sighed. "What am I to do with Zack?"

"Take him with you. I only mentioned you three because Zack's training and battle-experience is in your hands. You are dismissed."

The three Soldiers walked out of the room.

"Zack going to Wutai…" Genesis mused, looking at Angeal. "You'll certainly have your hands full."

Angeal sighed, walking into the lift. "He'd best behave himself."

Sephiroth pressed a button on the lift and felt it move up towards the top floor. "Miley's not going to like this…" He sighed, crossing his arms.

"Break it to her gently." Angeal said.

Genesis nodded. "Make sure you give her something nice to remember about you. For all you know you could be dead in two days time."

Genesis' words were unpleasant, but true.

The lift stopped with a satisfying _ding,_ and the doors slid open.

Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis stepped out, walking along the hallway to Sephiroth's apartment.

Sephiroth noticed the door partly open.

"He's not…" Angeal sighed, like a parent whose child had wandered away for the eighteenth time.

Sephiroth pushed the door open and saw Zack, slouched on the sofa, one arm spread across the back of it, a can in his hand and his feet on the coffee table.

"Zack…" All first class Soldier's growled.

Zack looked up and jumped up from his seat, immediately brushing the crisp crumbs off the leather.

"Seph'! Angeal…" He guiltily cried and whimpered Angeal's name.

"What are you doing in here?" Sephiroth demanded to know.

"Angeal's television blew up!" He blurted out.

Angeal frowned. "My television… blew up…"

Zack began twiddling his fingers, hanging his head and looking up nervously and nodding.

"How did this occur?" Genesis asked.

Zack moved behind the sofa. "That doesn't matter!"

Sephiroth sat himself on the sofa, Genesis sat next to him and Angeal sat on the armchair.

"Zack… as soon as we go back to the flat make sure you pack your bag." Angeal said.

Zack tilted his head, walked to the front of the sofa and flopped between Genesis and Sephiroth, causing them to shout his name angrily.

"Why?" He asked.

"We're being sent to Wutai."

Zack's face lit up with excitement, he leapt from the sofa and wrapped his arms tightly around Angeal's neck.

"Zack! Get off!" Angeal shouted, pushing his hyperactive student off him.

Zack let go and laughed, behaving worse than Miley on a sugar rush.

"Who am I going to leave Miley with?" Sephiroth muttered.

"Miley… Isn't she coming with us?" Zack said, calming down a little and sounding confused.

Angeal rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous Zack. It's a war-zone out there, even then, who would take care of her?"

"What about family?" Genesis' and Angeal's eyes became rather worried as Zack asked the awkward question.

"You could leave her with your mother, right, Seph'?"

"Zack—" Genesis breathed, his eyes switching back and forth from Zack to Sephiroth.

"Or your father if your mother can't, maybe siblings, cousins, Auntie—"

"Zack!" Angeal shouted; an angry frown was plastered on his face.

Zack looked at Angeal, unsure of what he'd done. He'd never heard Angeal shout at him like that.

Sephiroth was disturbed, though after taking a deep breath he spoke. "How about a temporary children's home?"

Before anyone could consider the question, Zack was making another awkward suggestion.

"How about Miley's mother?"

Suddenly, the room became quiet, a deathly quiet, as though a dear friend had suddenly and uncaringly been announced dead.

Sephiroth's face was caught in pain for a moment, and then his expression darkened.

"I mean, Miley's mother, whatever her name is, she hasn't seen Miley in years right? I think she'd be happy to spend a few months or weeks with her."

"Zack…" Angeal moaned; his head in his hand as he shook his head disappointedly.

Sephiroth quickly stood from his seat and walked out the room.

"Sephiroth…!" Genesis called after him as the door was angrily slammed shut.

"You go after him, I'll talk to Zack." Angeal said.

Genesis looked at Angeal warily.

"Discretely of course." Angeal added.

Zack watched, even more confused when Genesis grabbed a bottle of strong Whisky off the table and walked after Sephiroth.

Angeal sighed and turned to face Zack with a stern frown.

"In Sephiroth's presence, you NEVER speak of Miley's mother, and _never_ of Sephiroth's family." He growled.

"Why?" His expression was that of a puppy being denied his promised treats.

"Let me tell you very few details of a very long story…" Angeal began, motioning for Zack to sit somewhere.

On the outskirts of Loveless Avenue Genesis had found Sephiroth.

He was standing in Midgar's only upper-plate children's park, leaning against what appeared to be the only tall tree in Midgar.

"Why do you come here?" Genesis asked, startling Sephiroth.

Sephiroth's head quickly whipped around to see Genesis looking directly at him, leaning his body weight on his arm which was bent and resting on the thick trunk of the tree.

"You know this place upsets you."

Sephiroth sighed and looked away. "What do you want of me?" He sounded very depressed.

"I came to give you this," Genesis held out the glass whisky bottle. "Having quit smoking I thought you might need it."

"Do you really have to bring that up?" He growled, having a sudden craving.

He grabbed the bottle from Genesis, ripped the lid off and gulped down the contents.

Genesis smirked slightly. "Hm, wouldn't you rather come to the Nags Head with me? It would be better than standing here looking like a sad, lonely, alcohol addicted paedophile."

Sephiroth frowned, but agreed and followed Genesis.

Neither of them spoke a word to each-other as they walked down the street.

The pub they walked into (known as the Nag's Head) was a fairly small place, littered with small round tables, gambling machines, a piano, a large wooden bar counter with tall round stools around it, and a few booths pushed against the windows.

Sephiroth and Genesis had not been to the Nags Head for quite a long while, not for years, and back then there were a lot of people that came with them too.

The décor hadn't changed.

The old red tatty carpet was still on the ground, covered with crumbs, spilt drinks and who-knows-what-else.

The walls were still trapped in the seventies wall-paper, light-purple, white and turquoise stripes covered them (along with black and white pictures.)

Genesis stood at the bar while Sephiroth sat himself at one of the booths.

"Two of your strongest." He said to the slightly chubby man.

"Genesis!" The man loudly greeted with a smile. "I haven't seen you here for ages! Is everyone else here too?"

Genesis shook his head. "No, Tom, just Sephiroth; and myself."

"Well you make sure you bring the rest of the gang down here next time. It's been… how long?" He paused and lent on the counter. "Almost eight years. It's been too quiet."

"We've all been tied up with work, and you've heard that one member of our group has…"

Tom nodded. "Of course Genesis, I'm sorry. How is Sephiroth?"

"Not too good. That's why I've brought him here, to talk, and then he might stop depressing himself."

"What happened to put him in that mood?" He questioned, looking at Sephiroth's face.

"It all began when he found his daughter," Genesis resisted the urge to grin at the look on Tom's face.

"She looks like Katie, we're being sent to Wutai and a conversation came up about what to do with his child, so Angeal's student suggested his family take care of her, and then asked if her mother could have her."

Tom hissed. "I see. Well you better take this to him before he comes looking for you." He pushed the tray towards Genesis who picked it up and began to walk away.

"And Gen'! This one's on the house!"

Genesis smiled and began walking again.

"What is it?" Sephiroth asked, lifting one of the glasses from the silver tray.

"Something strong…" Genesis replied, sitting opposite Sephiroth.

Sephiroth drank half his drink in one gulp and felt the liquid burn his throat. "Good…"

There was a moment's silence. "You know Zack doesn't know about—"

"Yes, I do know. I still can't talk about it, even Miley doesn't know."

"I've noticed that there are no pictures of Katie… as was established the other day… there's not even a picture of all of us together."

"Too many ghosts."

"More than half of us are still alive Sephiroth, the only one not with us anymore is…" He trailed off. "Do you remember that picture we took? The one with all eight of us sitting here? There was Reno and Rude, Cissnei and Katie, Angeal, you and I." He smiled. "We all looked so happy."

"To think, Katie was a month pregnant when we took that picture…" Sephiroth sounded distant. "She disappeared two days later."

Genesis nodded. "We should have a reunion. All of us should come back here, Miley and Zack too."

Sephiroth smiled. "I can see it now. Reno making his crude jokes and slapping Rude constantly, also making excuses as to why he should smoke. Tseng, embarrassed when Cissnei sings and Lazard plays the piano, Angeal, you and myself talking, scolding Zack and Reno when they try to give Miley alcohol, Rude, behaving like a monk until he gives into the temptation of drink, Katie scolding—" He suddenly stopped, getting caught in the past with a modern twist.

For a moment, Genesis thought he saw tears in Sephiroth's eyes, but he shook the thought away, Sephiroth had always been emotional, but he rarely cried, and this was not the occasions that would get to him that badly.

"That's how it would be." Was all Genesis could say.

"Can…can anything…bring her back?"

Genesis sighed. "I don't know…and even if there were, it's not our choice to make."

Sephiroth breathed in suddenly. "No one ever said she was dead. Hojo never said anything like that. She could still be alive somewhere."

"Sephiroth," Genesis interrupted. "Keep that thought out of your head! She's gone, and you know that. If she was alive, I know you, you would have found her when she was in that lab."

Sephiroth was silent.

"How about Aunt Gillian?" Genesis suggested. "She'll be more than pleased to take care of Miley."

Sephiroth nodded and leant back. "Fine…" He said without another thought on the subject.

"I see…" Zack said sadly, he was sat on the sofa next to Angeal.

"No one really knows what happened to her… That's why we were so shocked to find Miley."

"Does Sephiroth have any pictures?"

Angeal sighed. "I have one. Genesis has many more."

"Can I see one? Just to compare her and Miley?"

Angeal shook his head. "No Zack, you'll understand when you're older, much older, but right now, Miley's mother must stay in the past."

Everything was silent for a few minutes, then the door opened and Sephiroth walked in with Genesis.

"Seph'—" Zack began, but was cut off by Sephiroth holding up his hand, making Zack's words come to a halt.

"I understand, Zack. And I promise to tell you everything when the time is right" He turned to Angeal and sighed, hoping to end the lingering conversation. "Miley will stay with your mother, Angeal.

"Should you call her or should I?"

Sephiroth frowned, when he phoned Gillian he wanted to phone her alone, _and_ he wanted Miley to talk to her.

"I'll call her… when you're gone and Miley's home."

"How will you tell Miley?" Zack asked; his curiosity involving Miley's mother was still nagging in the back of his mind.

"I've got a plan…"


	11. Chapter 9

Sephiroth picked Miley up from nursery an hour after having the conversation with his friends

He felt strangely nervous, a feeling that was becoming well known to him.

"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Miley called repeatedly, running out of the 'Play Room' to Sephiroth with a light pink sheet of paper in her hands.

Sephiroth crouched down and caught her in his arms and then arose to his standing position.

Miley noticed the change in her father's personality.

He was smiling as he lifted her up; he had even bent down so she could jump into his hug.

"What did you draw today?" He asked her as enthusiastically as he could, trying to sound like a loving father.

He was surprised that he hardly recognized himself when he spoke.

The words were too sweet and kind, his voice was too… _cheerful, happy and fatherly_…

But as Genesis had said earlier, he wanted Miley to have something good to remember about him… for some reason he didn't understand.

Miley obviously noticed these changes, and stared at him confused for no more than a second.

"Uncwle Zack!" She replied, holding up the paper. In there centre it had a pink, blue and black blob.

Sephiroth smiled, he was about to comment but found himself staring. "Why… have you drawn Zack naked?" He asked her after pausing to clear his throat.

"Because…" She answered.

Sephiroth noticed that as the answer _he_ always gave _her_.

"And dwad thi' one!" **(And I drew this one!) **Miley held up another piece of paper with three stick like figures painted.

"What's this one?"

"Tha' me, tha' 'ou a tha' my 'tend mummy." **(That's me, that's you, and that's my pretend mummy.)**

Sephiroth felt a churning in the deep pit of his stomach and a pain in the back of his mind. Not to mention the knife and poisoned arrow in his bleeding broken heart.

"I see…"

Miley nodded. "I don' have mummy…do I?" **(I don't have a mummy, do I?)** She asked.

Sephiroth was not so sure how to answer, and was grateful when Mrs Ashton walked out from one of the nursery rooms and began speaking to him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting… I wanted to explain that next week we'll be having a two day break—"

"There's a strong possibility that Miley will be absent for some time. It's not definite yet."

"Oh… I see…"

"Daddy, can we go now?" Miley asked, tugging on Sephiroth's fringe.

"Yes…" He sighed.

As Sephiroth walked down the street with Miley running in front of him then running back to him, then only to run away and then come back, he realised that if he died there would be no one to take care of her.

He had always known and never kidded himself that he could die in Wutai at any moment.

'_I might as well give her something good to remember about me should anything happen.' _He thought, looking at Miley.

He was rather proud of how well his acting skills had been in the nursery when he had lifted Miley up and spoken to her. Now… if only he could keep this attitude going until he left tomorrow…

"Miley!" He called, the words coming much harsher than they should have. And he internally winced at them for a moment.

Miley stopped and looked up at him.

Sephiroth smiled. "Would you like some sweets?" His acting began once again.

Miley squealed and jumped up and down in excitement, clapping her mitten-covered hands.

Sephiroth was planning on walking to the nearest sweet-shop, whereas Miley had run to the nearest café.

Sephiroth turned his head as the little pink and white blur ran past him and to a heavy door.

He recognized this place as Miley's favourite café.

Miley pushed against the door, grunting in strain. "Too heavy daddy!"

'_Fine…' _He thought. _'It wouldn't hurt to treat her for once…' _And so, he walked inside, a serious smile cast on his face and his hands swaying by his sides.

He stopped and pushed the door open for Miley.

She ran inside shouting out a small 'Thank you' and then stood at a round table, waiting for Sephiroth.

"Miley…" He said quietly as a sad yet intriguing (to quote Hojo) thought entered his head. "Would you like to go somewhere new?"

The look of excitement on Miley's face couldn't add up to anything Sephiroth had ever seen. Which was strange, his mind was defiantly jumbled that day.

He took her to the Nag's Head, and wondered if it was a good idea.

"You're back already?" Tom exclaimed, still behind the bar counter washing another glass.

"Tom, I'd like you to meet my daughter." He pushed Miley forwards.

Tom looked down at her, he was about to say hello when Miley ran to a table and attempted to pull herself up onto one of the comfy seats to stare out the window.

"She looks just like her mother." Tom stated kindly.

Sephiroth agreed, nodding his head. "I'll have a large Whisky; she'll have lemonade and a tube of fruit polo's."

Sephiroth pulled a Gil-note out of his pocket, preferring to pay before-hand.

"Watch your units Sephiroth. I can't afford anymore table's breaking because you've jumped on them." He truthfully stated, putting Sephiroth's requirements on a tray and then handing it all to Sephiroth.

Sephiroth glared at him and walked to Miley with the tray in his hands.

"Do you like it here?" He asked her.

Miley nodded and pointed to her right. "There Uncwle Weno!" **(There's Uncle Reno!)**

Sephiroth looked to where Miley was pointing.

As she had said, Reno was approaching the table.

"Yo!"

"Yo!" Miley squealed back, copying his hand movements by holding two fingers to her brow.

Reno grinned and sat next to her. "Haven't seen you here for years."

Sephiroth nodded. He put the tray on the table and sat down. "Where's Rude?"

"You think Rude comes everywhere with me?"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

"He's held up at work."

Sephiroth made a noise in his throat and turned his head away.

"You remember when we used to come here after work? All eight of us…? We should do that again sometime."

"There'd only be seven of us now."

"Not true!" Reno quickly shouted. "There's Miley."

Both men looked down at the little girl, sitting in her seat, swinging her legs and staring at the ceiling.

"And I bet she wants her first Brandy."

"No," Sephiroth firmly said.

"I have's Brandy 'fore." **(I have had a brandy before.)** Miley mumbled, sucking her thumb.

"When?" Sephiroth demanded to know.

"Uncwle Zack—" Those were all the words Sephiroth needed to know.

"I think I'll be having strong words with Zack."

"Wha' tha'?" **(What's that?)** Miley asked loudly and pointed to a piano that was pushed against a wall.

Sephiroth and Reno looked at the piano and smiled, remembering Lazard playing away and Cissnei singing whilst they all watched in great embarrassment.

"A piano." Sephiroth answered her. "It makes… noises…"

Reno smiled and lifted Miley off her seat. "Come with me!" He walked to the piano, cracked his fingers and lightly pushed one of the many keys with one finger.

"Ooh…" Miley comically sounded, staring at the piano in awe. "Again! Again!" She squealed, jumping from foot to foot with her small fists clenched and held to her chest.

"You have a go!" Reno sat her on the chair and guided her hand to a key.

Miley pushed one key and laughed, and then she pressed another and kicked her legs, laughing like a lunatic.

Reno smiled and walked past Sephiroth. "See ya' later!" He then ran from the pub.

Sephiroth sighed in annoyance as the loud booming noise of the piano played throughout the pub.

Sephiroth stood up and walked towards Miley.

Miley looked up at him with a wide smile, her hands still pushing down on the keys, causing the long, loud noise to continue.

Sephiroth pulled Miley's hands off the piano. "Sit down at the table and eat." He told her.

Miley obeyed him. She held up her arms so that Sephiroth could lift her off the chair.

Sephiroth lifted her up, carried her to the table and sat her down once again.

Miley lifted her tube of polo's and ripped the packet open, sending the coloured sweets flying in various directions.

"Uh oh…" She quietly said.

Sephiroth merely attempted to keep his temper.

"Drink your drink…" He sighed, drinking from his own glass as Miley struggled with hers, spilling most of the lemonade down her front.

"Daddy…" Miley said in a whining tone. Sephiroth could tell that she was getting ready to ask for something.

"Ho' toc'et p'ease…" **(Hot Chocolate please…)**

Sephiroth shook his head. "Chocolate drinks stain."

Miley pouted and whined.

"Perhaps you can have one when we get home."

Miley's eyes lit up in time for the sky to turn dark and a clash of lightning alongside a roar of thunder to light up the pub.

Miley's happy eyes quickly turned into tear-filled terrified ones.

She shrieked, jumped off her chair and ran to Sephiroth, letting loud dry sobs erupt from her throat.

Sephiroth had to admit, even he had been surprised.

He heard the rain start to pelt down at a high torrential speed as Miley's eyes began to stream with tears.

Sephiroth had never been good at comforting. He stroked Miley's head, trying to calm her down and lifted her onto his lap.

Another clap of lightning flashed across the sky and Miley screeched louder, gripping onto Sephiroth with all her might.

Sephiroth lowered the top half of his body. "Calm down." He whispered in her ear, attempting to make his words sound gentle.

Sephiroth pulled Miley's white mittens off, followed by her wet, sticky coat. Leaving her wearing brown boots with little pink teddy-heads stitched onto the fronts, white tights, and a dull green dress that had thick ruffle-covered straps, an A-line skirt, lace and frills down the front and frills at the bottom.

Underneath the dress Miley was wearing a white, long-sleeved top.

Cissnei had bought Miley the dress, and several others, claiming that they were adorable and she couldn't resist.

Sephiroth neatly laid Miley's coat and mittens on the floor.

Miley hugged Sephiroth's front, her sobs dying down to sniffles.

Sephiroth looked at the empty chair opposite him. In his minds eye he could see Katie, smiling sweetly at them.

"_She can be a little devil at times,"_ he heard her say in his mind, just to prove that he hadn't forgotten the sound of her gentle voice. _"But no one can claim that she doesn't have her angelic moments."_

As Katie reached out to touch Miley, she faded away.

Sephiroth closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he had spent years hardening himself to get over Katie's disappearance and death, now that he was forcing his walls down, certain feelings were floating to his surface.

"Daddy…" Miley sniffed, clutching one of the belts spread across Sephiroth's chest.

"Yes?"

"Where' Pancake?" Miley's crying stopped and she sniffed her words out.

"At home."

He felt Miley pout against him.

She pulled herself away from him and looked up at his face. "Pancake scared too!"

Sephiroth sighed. "I'm sure Zack's looking after him."

Miley laid her head back down.

Sephiroth continued to run his fingers through Miley's long blond hair until she fell asleep.

He couldn't understand the obsession she had with such a toy. To give such an inanimate object a name and a personality… it was different for his Masamune of course…

Another drink later, Sephiroth woke Miley up, ready to go home.

Miley stirred in his arms as he moved his hands to her underarms and moved her onto the floor.

He held her as though she were standing and gently shook her awake.

A long whine sounded from Miley's tiny mouth along with a few dry sobs.

"We're going home." He matter-of-factly stated as Miley stood on her own two feet and rubbed her eyes, hiccupping.

Sephiroth lifted Miley's coat and mittens off the floor and gradually re-dressed her.

He watched in amusement as she fell asleep, her head lolling from side-to-side as she struggled to keep awake.

After buttoning the front, Sephiroth lifted Miley up and began walking out the pub.

"See you again Sephiroth!" Tom called from the counter.

Sephiroth turned to face him. "Not too soon." He then walked out into the storm.

The rain pelted down on the two of them.

The sky was dark and the lightning had stopped, but the thunder still remained.

The rain and the bitter cold woke Miley up.

She let out long whines as Sephiroth hurriedly walked through the streets with her.

"Wet!" Miley shouted, once her whining had stopped. "Wet!"

Sephiroth ignored her, completely focused on getting back to the Shinra building.

They arrived back at the Shinra building at five o'clock in the evening, drenched and bitterly cold.

Sephiroth stood by the door in the living room, taking off his long dripping coat and large boots whilst Miley stood beside him shivering.

Miley clutched each of her tiny arms, trembling from the cold, looking up at her tall father.

As soon as Sephiroth was done he bent down and took Miley drenched coat and shoes off her.

Nothing was worse than a wet slippery floor, and Sephiroth had no intention to send anyone skidding on it that day.

Sephiroth walked into his bedroom, carrying the wet clothing as Miley toddled after him.

"Daddy! I'm cold!" She shouted.

Sephiroth was putting the clothing in a wash-basket in the far-right corner.

"Really…" He muttered, pulling a long-sleeved, grey, cotton shirt out from under his pillow.

The fabric was stretchy and warm.

He pulled his Soldier shirt off and looked at Miley's pouting face as she stood in his doorway shivering.

Sephiroth sighed and pulled the warm fabric of his night-top over his head. "As soon as I'm dressed you can have a bath."

Miley continued to stare at him as he changed his trousers from leather to dark blue cotton ones and pulled black socks onto his feet.

"You're strangely quiet…"

"Cold…" Miley replied.

Sephiroth stood and took Miley into the bathroom.

He ran the two taps at the end of the bath and began undressing his cold child.

"Can have 'ittwle 'ista p'ease?" **(Can I have a little sister please?)** Miley asked as she was lifted into the bath.

Sephiroth had to check his hearing for a moment and then looked down at the tiny person staring up at him with big eyes.

"No." He stood to his full height and attempted to leave the room.

"P'ease!" Miley drawled. "Can have one if good?" **(Please! Can I have one if I am good?)**

Sephiroth almost smiled. "That's impossible."

Miley's bottom lip began to quiver. "B-but Cake'in's getting one!" **(B-but Kaitlin's getting one!)**

"No." He told her again. Katie had always wanted children; there had been a time when he had too.

Miley pouted. "You' being mean!" **(You are being mean to me!)**

Sephiroth walked into the kitchen and pulled two bowls out the top cupboard. The soup on the cooker had been prepared earlier; all it needed was re-heating and then dishing up.

He lit the gas and then heard a loud skid, a thud and a loud series of cries.

Sephiroth sighed, walked out the kitchen and back into the bathroom.

Curled on the floor sobbing was Miley.

"This is why you're told not to get out of the bath on your own!" He scolded her, lifting her back into the tub and began washing her blond hair.

Miley soon stopped her crying and lifted a yellow rubber duck out the frothy white bubbles.

She dunked it under the water and held it out to Sephiroth's face, rambling nonsense that he couldn't understand.

He ignored her, and continued rubbing the shampoo deep into her scalp.

"Miley!" He shouted, as a long, almighty squirt of water darted up his nose and then into his eyes with a wet, bubbly, squelching, squeaking noise.

Miley pushed her hands back under the water and grabbed her ankles, rocking slightly as she laughed and stared up at Sephiroth's wet face.

Sephiroth ran a hand down his face, removing the water and revealing an angry glare.

"I a good girl?" **(Am I a good girl?) **Miley sweetly asked him before he had a chance to scold her.

"No." Sephiroth firmly replied, denying his longing to yank on her hair as punishment.

Instead, he grabbed a floating plastic bowl, filled it with water and tipped it over her soapy head.

Miley's displeased moan came out as a gurgle as the water fell over her head.

She was quiet for a while and spoke again as Sephiroth conditioned her hair.

"Daddy," she looked at her floating ducks and Sephiroth looked past her hair at her forehead.

"When going back to Ho'do?"

Sephiroth paused momentarily; the question was out of place and had caught him off guard.

"Never." He answered plainly, beginning to rinse her hair.

Miley winced as the water was poured over her and looked up at him as soon as he stood to put the bowl on a triangular shelf, in the corner above the bath.

"I know tha'! Bu' when?" **(I know that! But when?)**

Sephiroth pulled the plug out the bath and grabbed a towel so he could lift Miley out.

"You're not going back."

Miley looked confused as she was set on the floor and dried.

"Tell me when?" **(Will you tell me when?)**

Sephiroth sighed. "Alright, if you have to go back to Hojo I'll tell you in advance."

It seemed like a good enough answer to Miley, although she had no idea what he meant by 'advance'.

She flung her wet arms around his neck and kissed his cheek while giggling.

Sephiroth frowned slightly and rolled his eyes, it was his way of showing embarrassment without blushing.

He finished drying her and quickly dressed her.

"Sit at the table." He demanded, leaving Miley in the sitting room while he went into the kitchen to dish up the bubbling soup.

Miley struggled onto one of the two chairs that were at the small round dinning table in front of the window.

The top of the table came to her forehead and she let out a dramatic sigh.

Sephiroth walked in carrying two round white steaming bowls.

At seeing Miley's height problem he began to realise why Cissnei had bought a high-chair.

But he didn't want to set it up…

"Huwwy up daddy!" **(Hurry up daddy!) **Miley called as Sephiroth stood by the doorframe looking at her.

"Come and eat at the coffee table…" He told her, setting the bowl down on the thick glass in the centre. "Just until someone sets your own chair up."

Miley struggled off her chair and toddled to the table, where she sat down, lifted her plastic spoon and ate, looking over her shoulder as Sephiroth sat behind her with his bowl on his lap and switched the television on using the long black remote that had been on the cushion next to him.

The television began with a buzzing, crackling sort of noise as all televisions do.

"I want to watch this!" Miley shouted once the screen became clear.

It was a nature show, about rabbits that had surprisingly become Miley's favourite animal.

Sephiroth out the remote down, a wildlife program about rabbits was better than the rubbish Miley usually watched, Hotchpotch House, the Teletubies, Pingu, the Tweenies etc.

Miley giggled as a dark brown rabbit hopped across the screen. That is; until it was snatched up by an Eagle.

Miley's eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

Sephiroth quickly changed the channel.

"Th… that wasn't nice!" She began before bursting into tears and crawling onto Sephiroth's lap.

Sephiroth sighed and stroked her hair.

Once she had calmed down; Sephiroth lifted his phone out his pocket and phoned Gillian.

"_Hello?"_

"Hello Aunt Gillian."

"_Sephiroth…! It's been so long since you last called! I hear you have a child now. How is she?"_

"She's fine, I'm being deported to Wutai tomorrow, Genesis and Angeal too, I guess Angeal has told you by now… can you take care of Miley if I bring her down to you? All her expenses will be paid."

"_To Wutai… You do realise—_"

"I know…"

He heard Gillian sigh.

"_Bring the child anytime you like…I'll make sure she's fine…and… should anything happen…"_

"Thank you. Would you like to speak to her?"

"_That would be wonderful."_

Sephiroth handed the phone to Miley; she was sitting on his lap.

"This is Angeal's mother; she wants to talk to you."

Miley spat Pancake's ear out of her mouth held the phone once Sephiroth guided it to her small ear.

Miley was silent.

"Say hello." Sephiroth encouraged.

"H-hello…"

Sephiroth smiled at the uncertainty in Miley's voice, was it really so nerve-racking talking on a phone for the first time?

Sephiroth attempted to get a few words of whatever Gillian was saying, but all he got was an earful of Miley's laughter.

"Bye-bye." Miley said after five minutes, and handed the phone back to Sephiroth.

"Gillian? What were you talking about to make her laugh like that?" He asked, holding the phone to his ear.

"Don' is nosy daddy!" **(Don't be nosy daddy!)** Miley shouted, pushing on Sephiroth's chest slightly.

"_Nothing much… I have to go now, goodbye, Sephiroth."_

Then the phone-line went dead.

Sephiroth flipped his phone shut and left it on the table. Now was the moment he was most dreading.

"Miley, did you like Aunt Gillian?"

Miley nodded.

"Would you like to see her?"

Another anxious nod.

"Well, you'll be seeing her very soon. I'm sending you on holiday."

Miley smiled. "J-jus' like on telly?"

Sephiroth nodded and pulled a book off the table that he had put there just for this dreaded moment.

"You see this picture?" He asked, opening the book which turned out to be an old photo-album.

"That's daddy!" Miley shouted, recognising the silver haired boy with a scowl on his face.

Sephiroth nodded. "This was me when I was in Banora; it's where Aunt Gillian lives… you'll be going here for your holiday."

"Daddy too…!"

Sephiroth shook his head. "Just you."

"No daddy?" Miley sounded horrified.

"I have to go to Wutai, on a very long mission."

Miley started to cry.

"I want you to be a very good girl for Gillian, and I'll try to come home soon."

Those words did not comfort Miley in the slightest, is anything they just made her worse.

Sephiroth tucked Miley into bed as usual, read her a story and left the room.

Miley strangely did not bother him that night.


	12. Chapter 10

Sephiroth stood on Gillian's doorstep holding Miley's hand and suitcase. He would glance down at her occasionally, trying to remember how adorable she looked in a small white dress, little silver jelly-shoes and a golden straw hat on her blond head.

He wished she would smile, it could be the last time he would ever see it.

Zack, Angeal and Genesis were waiting outside the village so that Sephiroth wouldn't feel too embarrassed during his possibly last farewell. Angeal also knew that if his mother saw him at that moment, she would break down in tears.

Miley had been showered with hugs and kisses, even a few homemade and cheap gifts from all three of her uncles before Sephiroth had grabbed her hand and walked into Banora. But the best gift Miley had received, and would always remember, would be the day before, when she had spent the entire day with her father.

"Auntie Gil'an be nice…?" **(Will auntie Gillian be nice?)** Miley asked as she held Sephiroth's large hand.

Sephiroth nodded. "You'll like her." He appeared so hard on the outside, yet only he could feel the slight tinge in his gut, which he immediately pushed to the side and focused on other things.

"S-Sephiroth…?" Gillian greeted, as she opened the wooden door and saw Sephiroth standing on her doorstep with Miley. "It's been so long since I last saw you." She stated; in a happy yet weak voice. She had sounded that way for as long as Sephiroth could remember.

"It's good to see you again, Aunt Gillian." Sephiroth forced a smile to grace his features. Miley hid behind him, drawing Gillian's attention to her.

Gillian smiled. "This must be Miley…" She kindly spoke, kneeling down to get a closer look at her.

Miley peeked out from behind Sephiroth and then hid her face again.

"I should get going." Sephiroth sighed.

"I'll look forward to seeing you soon." Gillian said warmly, hoping that she _would_ see him and the others again.

Miley sniffed and looked up at her father as her bottom lip began to quiver and her eyes watered.

After receiving a look from Gillian; Sephiroth patted Miley on the head and forced another smile. "I'll see you again soon…"

Miley tugged on his jacket. Sephiroth bent down to tell her something and was surprised when Miley kissed his cheek. Whatever he had wanted to say he immediately forgot.

He did his best not to appear disgusted or shocked but he was embarrassed all the same.

"Bye…" He grunted, after clearing his throat a little.

So now, Miley was standing on a doorstep with a pink suitcase and Pancake.

Gillian smiled and took Miley inside the small house, letting Miley carry her own suitcase.

"So," she said to Miley who was lugging her suitcase around. "You're Sephiroth's daughter that I've heard so much about. Angeal puts you and Zack in all his letters." She smiled warmly. "I really enjoyed our conversation on the phone yesterday." She added thoughtfully.

"Ou' Auntie Gil'an daddy say' lot 'bout." **(And you're auntie Gillian that daddy says so much about.)** Miley walked to a corner, dragging her suitcase and put it down in the corner, then walked back to Gillian. "Daddy sayd come'd evwy yeya when little." **(Daddy said he came here every year when he was little.)**

Gillian nodded. "Yes. This is the first year he hasn't been down."

"He sayd havinged hol'day here he' going on hol'day 'cause S'inra sayd can." **(He said he's going on another holiday after having a holiday here because Shinra said he can.)**

"Really…? Where are you going?" Gillian asked her, trying to sound excited.

"Cos'a De' Sowl 'n Gowld Sauce'..." (**Costa Del Sol and the Gold Saucer.)**

Gillian smiled. "I see. That sounds exciting."

Miley ran back to the corner and lifted her suitcase again, not complaining when Gillian helped her carry it upstairs.

"This used to be Angeal's room." Gillian said, opening the first door of two on the small landing at the top of the stairs.

The room was small. There was a medium sized, panel window opposite the door and was the first thing Miley caught sight of. Two beds were on either side of the window, the one on the left was dressed in old white sheets and the other was bare. There was a chest of draws between the beds. The floor was wooden and the walls had never been painted or papered.

"When your father used to come down here, either he or Genesis would argue over who got to sleep in which bed."

"Daddy n' Uncwle Gen'sis share bed…?" **(Did daddy and uncle Genesis share a bed?)** She asked, since there were only two beds in the room.

"No. There's a mattress we used to pull out from under one of the beds."

Miley walked forwards, dropped her suitcase, and crouched down to look under the bed.

"Why' it dus'y…?" She loudly questioned. **(Why is it dusty?)**

"I haven't taken it out for over a year, so the Faeries came and slept on it, but they left behind their magic dust."

Miley looked confused. "Wha' a Fa'wie…?" **(What's a faerie?)** She asked innocently.

Gillian looked surprised. "Sephiroth hasn't told you the stories? I used to tell them to him all the time. I always thought that he'd pass them onto his own children." She sighed. "I have a book downstairs. I'll show it to you tonight."

"Why 'night?" **(Why tonight?)**

"Because then I can tell you stories of each and every one before you go to sleep." She kindly replied.

"Bedtime storwie…?" **(As a bedtime story?)** Miley asked.

Gillian nodded. "Yes. When your father was little, he would pick out a picture, so would Angeal and Genesis, and then I would tell them a story of each one. Their favourite one was the story of the Goblins."

"Wha' a Gwobwin…? Don' sound nice."** (What is a Goblin? They do not sound nice.)**

Gillian smiled. "You'll see tonight. Would you help me put the things in your suitcase away?" Miley nodded and walked to the other bed as Gillian lifted the suitcase onto the bed.

Once Miley had finished helping put her things away, she went downstairs with Gillian and sat on the floor doing a child's puzzle, which was made of hardboard and had a picture of a rabbit on the front. There were only twelve pieces.

"What ou' doing…?" **(What are you doing?)** Miley loudly asked Gillian almost an hour since her arrival.

"Preparing dinner…" She smiled, while cutting up a carrot.

"Can hewlp…?" **(Can I help?)** Miley asked, sitting at the table where Gillian was. "Can' hewlp daddy in kitchen. Can' see wha' doing 'cause thing high. He say' get messy." **(I can't help daddy is the kitchen. I can't see what he's doing because the counter-tops are too high. And he says I'll get messy.)**

Gillian smiled. "Sephiroth never did like people helping him. Even Angeal and Genesis..."

Gillian gave Miley a plastic cheese grater, cheddar cheese and a plate. "Can you grate this?" Miley nodded and did as Gillian asked. "Careful you don't hurt your fingers."

"How big daddy…?" **(How old is daddy?)** Miley asked.

"He's twenty-five."

"That' old!" **(That's old!)** Miley said with a gasp. She had only just been learning about age and wanted to know how old everyone was.

"Maybe to you, because you're so little... But he is young actually. My grandmother lived to be one hundred and two."

Miley looked shocked. "Tha' mean was littlerer tha' Hojo…?" **(That means she was younger than Hojo…?)**

Gillian laughed and shook her head.

"Oh... 'cause he' weeeaaallllyyyyy old!" **(Oh… Because he's really old!)**

Gillian walked to the stove. "You can go outside and play if you want to."

Miley shook her head. "Daddy say' I' not 'loud pway ou'side on own." **(Daddy said I'm not allowed to play outside on my own.)**

Gillian smiled. "It's ok to play outside on your own here in Banora. There are no monsters, and the people here are very nice."

It was obvious that Miley felt un-easy about going out on her own but went outside all the same; constantly peeking over her shoulder to make sure no one would come running after her.

She walked down the stone path until she came to a large field, full of long yellow wheat.

Miley was so small that she climbed under the fence, dirtying her white dress and slipping her shoe off her foot until it was only connected to her ankle by its strap and buckle.

There was a wooden windmill which was about seven heads higher than Genesis, and the wheat was so high it covered Miley's head completely, leaving only the top of her sandy yellow hat visible. There were flowers scattered around in all sorts of colours, some colours that Miley had never seen before.

"Hey! You…!" A mans deep voice shouted, making Miley jump and turn around from facing the spinning windmill she had been watching twirl around. There was a man standing on a path in the middle of the field, he didn't look angry... well… he looked a little angry, but not what Miley would call angry after seeing her father and Hojo's temper.

The man had white skin and looked like he was in his late fifties, his hair was Genesis' colour but it was greying, and he was going very slightly bald on top. But Miley was so far down, and he was so tall at six foot, that she could not see the top of his head. He looked strong for his age. He did not have muscle's bulging out or anything; but he did not have weak little muscle's that made him look scrawny.

"Get out of there!" Miley looked up at him like a kicked puppy with big watery eyes that cried: _'What have I done wrong?' _The man noticed Miley's look and instantly calmed down.

"I' sowwy..." **(I'm sorry…)** Miley apologised, sniffing and almost beginning to cry. It had obviously become a habit.

"Come on kid, don't cry." The man pleaded slightly, wading to her through the tall crops.

He lifted her up and sat her on the top of the fence. "Sorry for yelling at you. I thought you were one of the trouble making kids that keep coming in here. One of them wears a hat just like yours."

Miley said nothing, only continued to wipe her eyes.

"You see, lots of people have seen snakes in the fields lately. We think they are just grass snakes, but they might not be. You understand?"

Miley was confused, what was a snake?

"You're so small that if a grass snake did bite you it would be like a dogs bite. And you could get some sort of infection." He added.

"Wha' 'make?" **(What is a snake?)** Miley asked him.

"Long slithery things, which most people are scared of... You can't really explain what they look like." He said, not understanding why she did not know her animals.

"I' ask daddy get 'make when come back." **(I'll ask my daddy to get the snake when he comes back.)**

The man let out a tiny laugh._' _"I see. And where is your daddy?"

"'n Wrutai..." **(In Wutai…)**

He was shocked by what Miley had just told him, and in a rather happy voice too. So many people in Wutai were dying, it was literally dog eat dog, and it was becoming worse. It had been in the newspapers, radio and TV that the President was going to send in the very best Soldier's and Soldier's equipment.

"Really… Well, in that case, catching a few snakes will not be too hard for him. You look like someone I know, what is his name? Maybe I know him."

"Thefwifwoth..." **(Sephiroth...)** She smiled sweetly. It had always annoyed Sephiroth that she could not pronounce his name. Zack laughed though and had said that it sounded like _candyfloss_. Sephiroth had not understood.

"Sephiroth…?" The man shouted. "That little trouble maker! After the trouble he caused here making trouble in Wutai's the best place for him!"

"Wha' do tha' weres bad…?" **(What did he do that was bad?)** Miley asked.

"I've known your father since he was three years old. He was always coming over here in the summer to play with Genesis and Angeal. _They were always causing trouble_."

"Wha' do bad…?" **(What did he do that was bad?)** Miley repeated; her voice a little stronger this time. She had never asked Sephiroth what he did when he was little; she had not even thought that he was little at some point in his life.

The man bent down to her level and smiled. "You're his kid, aren't you?" He said, ignoring her question again. "Well. I'll be happy to tell you stories of Sephiroth's childhood tomorrow."

"Why 'morrow…? I wan' know now!" **(Why tomorrow…? I want to now!)**

"It wouldn't be fair on my son to tell you embarrassing stories of your father's childhood for nothing. When I told Genesis stories of my childhood, he had to earn them. Come here after your tea, each day starting tomorrow. Seven other kids your age do this job; they take it in turns. You see, there is another field not far from here, its snake free but birds like to steal the food that grows there. Many of the kids who want to know embarrassing stories about their parents come here and do a ten minute job for me. For ten minute's one kid'll run through a field when they see a bird land and try to take the food, by running over to the bird and waving their arms like crazy, it scares the bird away, after that kid's ten minute's another one takes over and does the same. That is an hour and ten minutes a day. Then you all get your stories."

Miley smiled. She liked the idea of this. It sounded like a fun game. "Daddy do tha'?" **(Did daddy do that?)** She questioned.

"Your father, Genesis and Angeal used to do that all day 'cause they liked it so much!" The man explained loudly. "They could run faster than the other kids you see."

Miley smiled and heard Gillian calling her for dinner. "I go now. Bye-bye…! I' see you 'morrow!" **(I have to go now. Bye-bye…! I will see you tomorrow!)** She shouted, as the man lifted her off the gate and watched her run back to the small house to tell Gillian about her after-noon job.

Miley ran into the house and saw two bowls filled with pasta covered with a cheese and vegetable sauce.

"Wash your hands before eating." Gillian told her, putting a chair against the sink for Miley to stand on.

"So, did you have fun?" Gillian asked Miley, helping her wash and dry her hands.

"Yes!" Miley shouted, nodding her head. She jumped off a wooden stool and sat at the table. "I see'd Gen'sis' daddy. He telled me: 'morrow I chasees bwirds! And then tewl me storwie 'bout daddy!" **(I saw Genesis daddy. He told me: tomorrow I'll chase birds! And then he'll tell me a story about daddy!)**

Gillian smiled at Miley's excited voice; at least her father leaving had not upset her _too_ much.

"All the children in the village love that job. They look forward to it every day."

After they had eaten, Miley helped Gillian with the washing up, and then Gillian sent her out to play again.

"What's your name?" A girl with brown hair and blue eyes asked Miley. She looked about the same age as Miley and was the same height as her.

"Miley."

"I'm Autrix." Miley smiled at her, and soon the two were playing together like best friends.

The day passed quickly and Gillian called Miley inside.

Gillian was laying the table when Miley ran in. "Can you get into your nightclothes before eating?" She asked.

Miley nodded and ran upstairs. She was very energetic, not once had she been outside for that long.

Miley wrestled out of her white dress and danced into a short pink summer nightdress. She lost her balance a number of times, though after fifteen minutes or so she decided she was ready.

"I' weady!" **(I'm ready!)** Miley shouted, bouncing down the stairs.

On the table was a plate filled with fruit and other tasty things. There was also a glass of milk.

Miley sat at the table opposite Gillian. "Fank ou'." **(Thank you.)** Miley smiled, and dug into her food.

"Was Genesis father feeling okay?" Gillian asked. Only a few days ago Exodus-the name of Genesis' father-had been using a pitch-fork in one of the fields, missed the soil and the fork had gone right through his foot. He had lost his little toe, and only realised when the doctor took his shoe and sock off and his toe had rolled out all pale and bloody.

Miley tilted her head to the side. "He shouted…"

Gillian rolled her eyes and smiled. "He does that a lot."

As soon as that was over, Gillian sent Miley to bed. She tucked her in and sat on the end of her bed with the book of pictures.

"Choose a picture you like and I'll tell you the story." Miley flicked through the book, looking at all the magical creatures, mermaids riding dolphins, goblins, elves, faeries, unicorns and leprechauns. However, one picture caught her eye. It was a beautiful faerie with long flowing hair and clothes as she danced with a faerie prince in a magical faerie kingdom.

Miley handed Gillian the book, still open on the beautiful page.

"This one…?" Miley nodded.

"Once upon a time in a magic faerie castle a prince danced with his bride.

Back and forth, they flew like dancing flowers,

Graceful like the wind,

Peaceful in the night;

Beautiful in the day,

When not dancing just wanting to play.

And when the day ends, they dance back and forth,

Looking at the star that points to the north,

Sparkles fly 'round and 'round,

Gently floating to the ground,

And one by one they dance some more,

Waiting for the next day to play much more,

They do not sleep and they do not wake,

They just dance for the flowers sake."

Looking down Gillian saw that Miley was sleeping, having dozed off from the gentleness of Gillian's voice.

The book was just a picture book, but Gillian told the poetry as she made it up. Her mind instantly wondered how Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth were. And Zack, who she had heard so much about from Angeal.

They were all strong, yes, but what if something happened? If Sephiroth died what would happen to Miley? And she was not sure if she could cope knowing that Angeal or Genesis were dead. She instantly went downstairs and turned on the radio. Wutai news covered it.

Meanwhile, in Wutai, everywhere was overflowing with screams, yells, the sound of bombs and explosions. The Wutai forces were growing. It was such a long day of fighting, and it did not look like it would be ending anytime soon.

Sephiroth, Angeal and Genesis were at the Shinra campsite. Zack had already injured himself. He had sprained his arm when taking a swing of his sword. So his fighting arm was injured.

"Hellooooooo…!" Zack loudly said, waving his good arm in front of Sephiroth's face after Sephiroth had not blinked or answered Zack's question, after three minutes everyone was starting to worry.

Sephiroth blinked and shook his head. "I thought you'd lost your mind." Zack exaggerated.

"Sephiroth," Angeal sighed, taking him out of the muddy tent. "You, stay here." He ordered Zack, who was trying to follow him.

"What's wrong?" He asked Sephiroth once they were out of Zack's hearing.

"Nothing's wrong."

"Then why have you been like this all day?" He got no answer. "It's Miley, isn't it? The moment Lazard told you that you were being sent to Wutai you've been daydreaming." Angeal saw the look on Sephiroth's face. He had never seen him look like that. "Miley will be fine. And nothing will happen to you either."

Angeal headed back to their camp's tent, leaving Sephiroth to contemplate on what had just been said. (Thanks for that Matrineal! I think it is really going to help!)

Sephiroth decided that all he needed was some fresh air. Yet again, his mind went to Miley. Was she happy? Was she enjoying herself? She had been _so_ nervous and had not wanted to go to Banora. And she had begged Sephiroth not to go to Wutai, or Wrutai as she called it.

_'What am I doing?' _He thought _'I promised myself I'd never even think of my child, mission or no mission. I must be going insane.'_

But in Banora, Miley had woken up sobbing. It was still light outside, the sky was orange and the sun was going down.

"Miley! Stop!" Gillian shouted, chasing after the toddler that had run from the house and was screaming for her father.

Exodus and his wife, Lucia, had gone out for an evening walk when they heard Miley's shrieks.

They saw the little girl rush past them as fast as she could with Gillian attempting to chase after her to the best of her abilities.

Exodus sighed and limped after Miley. Even with only nine toes he was much faster than Gillian was with her bad back.

Miley sobbed loudly as Exodus got close enough to scoop her up.

Gillian was leaning forward with her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath. Having asthma was a real pain when it came to running. And by pain I mean a physical pain.

"Hush now, you're okay…" Exodus comforted, walking back to Gillian as his wife ran back to Gillian's house to get her inhaler.

Lucia was back almost instantly and helped Gillian take four deep breaths. Gillian was sitting on the floor on Exodus' jacket. He was holding Miley, trying to calm her and keep Gillian calm too.

They waited for a few moments until Gillian felt ready to stand. Then they escorted her back to the small house.

Lucia sat Gillian down on a kitchen chair and then took Miley from Exodus. Miley was sobbing and mumbling incoherent words.

"Why don't you take her upstairs and I'll talk to Gillian?" Exodus requested to his wife. She nodded and spoke kindly to Miley as she walked up the stairs.

Gillian was silently sitting in her chair.

"He should have known better than to leave you in charge." Exodus said.

"It was Angeal's suggestion too. It keep's me occupied and they had no one else to take care of Miley." She solemnly said. "I've taken care of a child before."

"You where a lot younger then."

"I'm not exactly _old_ now." She defended.

"Then let me explain it another way, you didn't have as many health complaints then."

Gillian frowned. "May I remind you that I ran from Shinra when I was eight months pregnant, _and I gave birth on the way._"

Exodus sighed; there was really no getting through to this woman. "This child is traumatized and homesick; you didn't have to cope with that. Also, you have no husband to support you."

Gillian remained silent.

"Do you need some help taking care of her tonight?"

Gillian shook her head. "No,"

"Someone should stay tonight anyway, if not for you then for the girl…_what's her name_?" He hissed, his memory failing on him.

"Miley." Gillian answered. She could still hear Miley crying upstairs.

"Right, Miley…" He sighed deeply. "If you have anymore problems with her—"

"I can assure you I won't."

So, after not being able to convince her, Exodus and Lucia left.

Gillian was now sitting on the front step of her house, holding Miley and telling her sweet, comforting things.

"He'll be fine." She muttered, rocking Miley back and forth, as she looked at the markings scratched into the frame of the open door. They were the heights of Angeal, Genesis and Sephiroth from when they were growing up.

"He'll be back very soon." She said stroking Miley's hair as she hoped that when they came back it would not be in a wooden box with their names printed on it.

"I-I wan' da-ie!" **(I-I want daddy!)** Miley sobbed loudly, rubbing her eyes with her tiny clenched fists and then sobbed all the names of her uncles. "A-an' w-wan' home-e..." **(A-and I want to go home-e…)** She cried.

"Shhhh... Just think of tomorrow, think of how exciting it will be…" Gillian said, while continuing to tell her all the things that were going to happen the next day.

In the end, Miley cried herself to sleep, and was tucked back in bed. Gillian turned away from putting the covers over her and looked out the window. Just a small flock of birds flying towards the setting sun brought tears to her eyes. '_Please, please. Come back soon._' It was the wish made on the biggest star she could see.


	13. Chapter 11

Miley sat, wedged between seven other children, on a long log in a wheat field.

"Okay you lot!" Exodus shouted, standing in front of the eight excited children. "We have a new girl here today, her name's Miley." He pointed to the little blushing blond sitting in the middle of the log. "Be nice. That means you too, Marco!" He shouted at a seven year old black haired boy, the troublemaker of the group.

All the children nodded and giggled in their sweet state known as 'childhood'. Miley was sitting between Autrix, whom she had met yesterday, and Misuku who was earnestly trying to become friends with her, not realising that she had already been accepted.

"Marco, you're up first." Marco stood up and began playing up in front of everyone else. He poked his tongue out and pulled his bottom eye-lids down. He then bent over and mooned everyone, causing several of the children to laugh and others to blush.

"Marco!" Exodus yelled.

Marco knew his limits, pulled his shorts and pants up, and then ran into the middle of the field before Exodus could send him home.

"Miley," Exodus gently said, signalling for Miley to come to him. Miley stood and toddled his way. Her fist was in her mouth and she was lightly chewing on it, Marco's actions having caused her already nervous feelings to rise.

"If Marco upsets you, or anyone else does, you tell me." He told her in a low voice, sincerely worried about her after the confusion from the day before. Also, two years ago, there had been a girl younger than Marco whose father had gone to Wutai in battle. Marco had not stopped talking about how her father was going to die. It had driven the girl to tears and then depression for weeks. He did not want that happening again.

Miley nodded. "I' tewl ou'..." **(I'll tell you…)** She said, smiling as Exodus told her to sit back down.

All the children ran in turns. Miley was now sitting next to Marco while Autrix ran after every different bird, shouting and flapping her arms, looking like she would take off at any moment.

"Don't get your hope's up." Marco whispered to Miley. "It's not like he'll be coming back. No one comes back from Wu-"

"Marco!" Exodus shouted; an expression of anger plastered itself on his stern face. "Go home!" He had heard Marco's few words and wanted him gone before he could say anymore.

Marco stood up and walked away. Turning back to face a confused Miley and then sliced his finger across his throat, as if to say that Sephiroth was defiantly going to die with his throat cut.

"And we'll have none of that! Go, or I'll get your parents!" Exodus shouted, pointing to the gate so Marco would leave faster.

"Miley, your turn." He spoke with a sudden softness and his face softened as he turned to face her.

Miley slowly stood and then ran to Exodus. She wrapped her arms around his knees in a desperate hug, surprising him.

"Daddy die?" **(Will daddy die?)** She worriedly asked him, not looking up at his face but looking to the side of him.

"Miley…" Exodus began. He bent down and held her by her arms. "Look at me."

Miley did as she was told and slowly turned her head to look at him.

"Your father is the strongest Soldier in the world. Keep that in mind." He let go of her, watched her smile and run into the field, screaming at the birds to fly away. Exodus wouldn't tell her not to worry, or that Sephiroth would return safely. Because if he didn't… what then?

Miley's ten minutes were almost up when she tripped over and landed face down on the dirt, sprawled out face down. Her body tensed, her face scrunched up and she couldn't breathe. After getting over the initial shock and feeling the air rush back into her lungs, she let out a loud cry sobbed into the earth.

"Poor Miley!" Beatrix exclaimed, running from the log to Miley's face down form.

The six-year-old crouched down and forcefully lifted Miley by her underarms. The caring act only made the toddlers cries louder.

Exodus sighed and slowly walked forwards. He took Miley from Beatrix and carried her back to the other children.

"Don't cry Miley!" Beatrix called up at the toddler; she jumped up and down, trying to reach Miley's feet.

"Lucia!" Exodus called loudly.

Lucia hurried to him and took Miley without saying a word to her husband.

Lucia sat Miley on her hip and ran her skinny hand through the child's hair. "Oh, you're alright." She gently said as she took Miley indoors and sat her down on a wooden chair at the table.

Miley's knees were scraped. Not badly, but enough to cause a few specks of blood to appear.

Miley rubbed her eyes and continued to sob as her knees were tended to with a wet piece of kitchen-towel. Once the kitchen towel had been thrown into the bin Lucia picked Miley up again and walked back outside with her, telling her sweet motherly sayings the entire time to try and calm her.

Lucia was used to this behaviour from Genesis when he had been young, constantly crying, at the little things… as well as the big things. Exodus had called him the snapping crocodile of all tears, and he had called Lucia the mother of the crocodile.

Miley was placed back on the ground once they were back near the field. She walked back to the log and sat down, watching as the last child ran through the grassy field.

"You better now Miley?" Exodus asked her loudly with his back turned.

Miley slowly nodded.

Exodus turned his head and saw her nod. "Alright, everyone sit on the grass in a half-circle."

Miley followed everyone onto the dry grass and sat between her two new friends in the widely spaced half-circle they had been told to sit in.

Lucia lowered a tray to the ground, full of wonderful scented newly baked ginger-bread-men. She disappeared into the house and then returned with several plastic cups and a jug full of lemonade.

"Daichi! Come sit!" Exodus called to the boy running in the field.

Daichi ran to the circle and excitedly sat down on the end with his legs crossed.

Exodus sat down before them and only began speaking when Lucia had finished handing out the ginger-bread-men and lemonade.

"Miley wanted to hear a story of what her father used to do when he was little." Exodus told all the children. "When Miley's father was five years old he climbed up our windmill and got stuck..."

_Exodus was walking through the large field full of long golden wheat. Sephiroth had arrived that day and was playing somewhere with Genesis and Angeal. _

_Exodus let out a small shout as he heard several worried shouts and yells, causing him to trip and fall flat on his face._

_Genesis and Angeal were worriedly staring up at the turning windmill. Sephiroth was gripping onto the top of the windmills roof, while clutching a black, decorated sword-case._

"_What you up to?" Exodus yelled at the twelve-year-olds._

_Genesis abruptly turned his head when he heard his father's angry voice. Angeal also turned his head and Sephiroth gazed down from his fairly high position._

"_Nothing!" The three of them loudly replied. _

"_Nothing is always something with you Solider Trio. I'll say it again, what. You. Up. To?" He demanded to know._

"_I'm stuck…" Sephiroth helplessly called down._

_Exodus frowned, Genesis looked a little worried and Angeal shook his head, feeling his pride and honour slowly drain._

"_What were you doing up there in the first place?"_

_Sephiroth hid his head, appearing almost in shame. Genesis was too afraid of getting a whipping with his father's slipper to say anything, leaving Angeal honourless as he told the story._

"_We were trying to throw the sword case through my bedroom window…" Angeal mumbled in a small voice as he hung his head and fidgeted with his hands as they clutched his trouser-legs._

_Exodus frowned and didn't understand the complete shame behind it… other than stupidity. That was… until he raised his head and saw all the broken windows covering Banora._

"_GENESIS!" Exodus hollered as his son began to run away from him. He sighed, Genesis' punishment could wait. "That still doesn't explain how Sephiroth got stuck up there."_

"_The sword-case got stuck up here… Angeal didn't throw it far enough."_

"_There are no houses over that way for it to get stuck in the windmill!"_

_Angeal coughed. "I was aiming for the bull in the field."_

_Exodus growled at their stupidity and stomped closer to the windmill. "You're a Soldier! Jump down!"_

"_NO!" Sephiroth screamed, clutching tightly onto the pointed roof even tighter._

"_Don't be a wimp!"_

"_I'M NOT JUMPING! HOJO WILL KILL ME!"_

_Exodus looked at Angeal. "Why will Hojo kill him?"_

"_Sephiroth jumped from Hojo's lab table to the other and damaged his feet on broken glass… Hojo said something to scare him… And his stitches will come out." Angeal knew what the real reason was but was unwilling to say it, although it wasn't exactly a lie._

_Exodus grumbled and began pacing back and forth, only stopping to shout his ideas up at the boy. "Can't you climb down?"_

_Sephiroth shook his silver head. _

"_Cant climb down, can't jump down… Wait here! I'll go get a ladder!" He told Sephiroth to wait there… but weren't as though he could go anywhere else._

"_Thanks Angeal…" Sephiroth moaned as Exodus walked back to the house._

_Angeal smiled. "You'd do the same for me. It's not as though it didn't happen."_

"_I meant not telling about that." Sephiroth pointed to the plank of wood nailed down to a wooden barrel that had certain… modifications… that they had spent hours working on, using some of Shinra's cast-off creations and springs from Banora's dump heap. On the levitated end of the plank was a bucket of blue paint, stolen from Gillian's kitchen._

"_Oh… Who knew it'd actually work!"_

_As they spoke about their backup stories and the crimes happening in Shinra, Exodus struggled back to them with a long silver ladder in his hands._

_He perched it against the back of the windmill to avoid getting caught by the spinning front. "Angeal, hold the ladder for me." Exodus climbed up until he was face-to-face with Sephiroth._

_Angeal stared up at them as he gripped the ladder._

"_Climb down." Exodus calmly demanded, stepping down a few steps so Sephiroth could climb on._

_Sephiroth looked down at the ladder and shook his head with scared eyes._

"_Come on boy… you're not a six-year-old. Climb down!"_

_Once again Sephiroth shook his head._

_Angeal sighed and looked down at his shoes. Sephiroth, already the worlds most praised Soldier was afraid of climbing down a ladder on fear of falling…_

"_Chicken…" He whispered to his shoes._

"_RAUGH!" A loud scream made Angeal jump as Genesis jumped out of nowhere._

_He let go of the ladder to clutch his leaping heart and glared at his friends' wicked grin. _

_Genesis' evil expression changed as his father screamed and the ladder fell onto the lowered end of the plank, sending the bucket of paint flying in Exodus' direction. The bucket landed upside-down on Exodus' head, covering him in blue paint and leaving a spray of blue on the crops and windmill._

_Sephiroth chose the wrong timing to speak as he looked down at Exodus' blue head as his hands removed the bucket. "I told you it wasn't safe!" He called down._

_Under the blue paint Exodus' face turned red with anger and he spluttered blue paint saliva from his mouth._

_He glared at the contraption he had missed earlier due to it being hidden in the long wheat._

"_What… is that?" He daringly questioned them as he coughed paint from his throat and breathed in fury._

_Sephiroth and Angeal looked at Genesis. "The worlds first… Human Catapult…" He stared down at his trainers as he spoke, knowing that he would definitely be getting that whipping now._

"_Are you stupid?" Exodus screamed at them, not noticing Gillian walking through the field towards them. "And __you're__ too scared to climb down a ladder __but of course__ you'll use a Human Catapult!" _

"_Angeal…" Gillian coldly said, laying a hand on her sons shoulder as she looked down at Exodus._

_Angeal gulped silently. "Yes mother?"_

"_That wouldn't happen to be my paint, would it?" She growled the last two words. _

_Angeal's mouth went dry, he knew that his mother had saved hard to buy the paint to decorate the bathroom, but the thought of using it on a Human Catapult after breaking so many windows had seemed much more appealing to him. Why did the bathroom need to be coloured anyway? All people did was wash in there and make it smell when they used the toilet._

"_If I said 'no' would you believe me?" He smiled up at Gillian and received a smack over the head for his cheekiness._

"_What part did Genesis' play in this?" She asked._

_Genesis suddenly felt very small. _

"_We'll talk about that later. Help me get Sephiroth down first." Exodus grunted as he stood off the ground, looking hilarious as the paint covering his head began to dry._

"_How did you get up there?" Gillian called up to Sephiroth as she lifted the ladder._

"_He was chosen to be the first human catapulted twelve miles into the air." Genesis told her. "Even though it was MY idea…" He grumbled._

_Gillian sighed and placed the ladder against the windmill's front. "Climb down or I won't feed you tonight!"_

_Sephiroth's leg shook as he struggled around to the front of the windmill, the thought of Gillian's cooking driving his every move._

_Somehow, the ladder cluttered to the ground and Sephiroth shouted as one of the windmill's blades tore through his shorts and up the back of his top. The weight of him caused the windmill to creak and come to a stop._

"_Help!" Sephiroth shouted as he heard Exodus and Gillian laugh. "It's not funny!" He screamed down at them, struggling to get free but to no avail._

_Gillian pushed Angeal forwards. "Exodus, I leave Angeal and Sephiroth's punishments in your hands." She then began to walk away._

_Angeal's heart stopped. When his mother punished him it was usually painless, a slap on the head and then locking him in his room for a few hours… Exodus was much stricter._

_Genesis sighed. It was horrible being punished, but it felt better knowing that he had friends to be punished with him._

_As Sephiroth hung in midair he crossed one ankle over the other and folded his arms. There was also a cute scowl on his face. _

_Exodus sadistically smiled and laid each of his hands on Genesis' and Angeal's tense shoulders. "Come on, inside."_

_Genesis, being the trouble-maker that he was, stared up at Sephiroth. "What about Sephiroth?"_

_Angeal nodded. "Yeah, how's he gon'na get down?"_

_Genesis frowned and pointed up at Sephiroth. "I mean what's his punishment?"_

_Exodus looked up at the figure longingly staring down at him. "I think he's already being punished. A few hours up there should do him some good!"_

"_Don't walk away! Don't leave me here!" Sephiroth called after the figures walking towards Genesis' house. "Come back!"_

_Angeal and Genesis, once inside the house, winced as the twelfth, rubber smack was delivered on there behinds. As Exodus put the rubber slipper back in the cupboard the two boys stood back up and pulled up their trousers._

_Genesis had tears running down his face, he'd cry at anything. Angeal simply rolled his eyes while keeping his serious expression. He knew it would be bad, but by the way Genesis reacted he made it seem worse than it actually was. They'd all experienced worse in Midgar._

_The sky became a light blue with a patch of dark coming towards the windmill Sephiroth had fallen asleep on. It was eight o'clock when Angeal ran back to Exodus to remind him that Sephiroth was still trapped up there._

_Two hours and a broken windmill later Sephiroth was free and walking back to Gillian's house, complaining that his behind hurt from the pain his trousers had caused him as they'd dug into "Some sensitive areas" as he had put it._

_Hell broke loose as he and the others compared the pain they were and had felt, that comparing sequence had turned into a pain tolerance fight that had broken Genesis' nose, made Angeal loose a tooth and Sephiroth to have a black eye and several fingernails missing._

_Lest to say they had gone to bed that night hungry… _

"The end." Exodus finished, listening to the jingling, laughing voices as even Miley laughed and giggled.

"Did they ALWAYS have adventures like that?" Beatrix asked, straining the word 'always' and scrunching her pretty face up as she asked.

Exodus smiled. "Worse sometimes. But I'll tell you that another time."

Daichi smiled and stood up. "Bye mister Rhapsodos! Thank you!" He called running from the field, over the fence and back home.

Miley watched as several other children did the same, some of the small girls kissing him on the cheek as they giggled and ran home.

"Come on Miley!" Beatrix, Autrix and Misuku said at once, unknown to Miley they were sisters.

Beatrix pulled Miley up, wrapped her arms around the toddlers' chest, arched her back and waddled away with her. "Thank you bye-bye! Say goodbye Miley!"

Miley's shoulders were pushed up, as were her arms, making her look hilarious. Her cute round face made her look all the more funny. "Bye-bye…" She muttered as Beatrix waddled away with her once again.

Exodus smiled and waved, then looked at Lucia seriously as she approached him with tears dripping down her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" He asked her with a feeling of dread in his gut.

Miley was dropped off at Gillian's house and waved goodbye to her friends as she pushed the door open and walked inside.

The first thing Miley saw was Gillian sitting at the table with her head in her hands. She looked worried and sad; she was obviously holding tears back.

The sight and the tension in the air made Miley let out a whine and a loud series of sobs.

Gillian looked at her with sad, surprised eyes. She stood and lifted Miley onto her hip, then sat down and moved her onto her lap, grunting a little as she did.

"Something has happened in Wutai." She explained, not bothering to stop Miley's tears since she knew that they would only start again.

Miley tensed and gripped onto Gillian, hiccupping loudly as the tension in the air changed a little.

"You see, when you're in a war you have two places to live, one for the Wutai people and one for your father. Someone put a bomb in one of the camps, and it exploded. It went BANG." Gillian wasn't so sure how to explain such a thing to such a young child, but did her best. "If it was the Wutai people's home, then your father will be coming home soon... but… if it was your father's home... you might not see him for a very long time… or Genesis… or Zack… or… Angeal."

"He' dead...?" **(Is he dead?)** Miley asked; her mind was still trying to take everything in as she finished her crying.

"Maybe." Miley said nothing, but just held her head down. Her eyes were open.

"Miley?" Gillian said, after a while of silence.

"Wha' 'dead' mean?" **(What does dead mean?)** Miley questioned. Hojo had told her. He had even showed her. However, she did not want it to be true. Therefore, she told herself that there must be different types of death. "When' come home?" **(When's he coming home?)**

"Miley... He might not be coming home. Genesis and Angeal might not be coming home either. Zack too..."

"Daddy won' go 'way!" **(Daddy will not go away!)** Miley shouted.

"Miley... your father, you might not see him again." Miley couldn't understand. Her father was _always_ going to come back to get her, he said he would... But he didn't promise…

"Yes will." **(Yes he will.)** She insisted as she began to cry.

Gillian told Miley over a thousand times. And every time, Miley refused to believe it.

Miley had cried herself to sleep in Gillian's lap.

After tucking Miley in bed, Gillian sat at the table listening to the radio's news.

"_We have some breaking news coming in!" _The voice of Reeve Tuesti spoke. _"Due to the bravery of a young Soldier all Midgar's Soldier's will be coming home safely."_

Gillian began to cry from the relief and held her hands to her heart.

"_We're about to interview this young Soldier, the sound may not be so good due to the reception in Wutai. So then, Zack Fair, how did you take control of the situation?"_

Zack laughed. _**"It was nothin'! **_ _**Just the everyday work of a Soldier! It's what we do." **_'You didn't do anything…' 

Gillian's tears poured down faster as she heard Angeal's voice correcting Zack in the background.

"_I see. So report has it that you destroyed the bomb, how so?"_

'He was fooling around and smashed it with his sword,' Genesis mumbled, causing Zack to stutter and cough.

"_**Well I saw it; I knew what it was and I took immediate action! The bomb was attached to Wutai's camp and the explosion backfired."**_

"_Uh-huh… So when will you be arriving home?"_

"**Well I'm leaving tomorrow, as is Sephiroth, Genesis and Angeal… the others'll be leaving in a few days."**

"_That's good to hear Zack! We'll have to leave you now and wish you a safe journey home."_

"**Right! See'ya Reeve! ANGEAL!"**

Reeve coughed. _"A very… brave Soldier indeed." _He was obviously substituting the word brave for utterly thick.

Gillian couldn't stop her happiness. She wiped her eyes and hurried upstairs. She shook Miley awake, ignoring the cries Miley let out as she was awoken.

"Miley… Everyone's safe." She told her as Miley sat up. "They're all coming home soon."

Miley smiled, too tired to so anything else. "Good…" She managed to yawn as she fell asleep again with a smile on her face.

Gillian walked back downstairs. She wanted to share her happiness with someone all night. And just at the right time Lucia and Exodus knocked on the door.

Gillian opened the door and threw her arms around Lucia. Both of them cried together, ignoring how Exodus affectionately criticised them for being "two emotional women."

"Sit down! Sit down!" Gillian happily told them as she walked to the kettle and began to heat the water to make tea.

"They should be arriving home tonight." Exodus said as he sat down.

Gillian shook with joy, as did Lucia.

"I'd imagine you'll have Genesis with you?" Gillian asked.

Lucia shook her head "There's no room for him now! Exodus' filled his room up with dirt-ridden, bug-covered tools, boxes and the like."

They laughed and their conversation became louder with their relived feelings and plans for the few days ahead. Not meaning to, they awoke Miley.

"Daddy home now?" **(Is daddy home now?)**

They all looked towards the small child standing on the stairs hugging Pancake.

Gillian shook her head. "Not yet." They had agreed to keep Sephiroth's approaching arrival as a surprise.

Miley said nothing and continued to stare at the smiling adults.

"Come on, I'll tuck you in and tell you a story." Exodus told her, standing up, lifting her off the floor and taking her upstairs.

Gillian stood and heated the cooker. She grabbed several vegetables and began peeling them. "They'll be hungry when they come home." She said.

Lucia nodded. "I'll prepare dinner for them tomorrow." She lifted a spare knife and a carrot and began copying Gillian's actions.

Miley was asleep by ten, Exodus and Lucia left at eleven, Angeal knocked on Gillian's door at midnight.

Gillian hastily opened the door.

"You're safe…" She breathed, hugging Angeal. She knew that Sephiroth did not welcome hugs but she hugged him all the same. "Miley's sleeping." She whispered in his ear.

Sephiroth nodded and stepped inside.

"Thank you for taking care of Miley." He whispered.

Gillian nodded. "She didn't know you were coming home tonight."

"Ah, a surprise then?" Angeal said with a smile as he dropped his exhausted body into a chair after dropping his large bag on the floor.

Gillian nodded, speechless at their sudden arrival.

"I'm here too!" Zack shouted loudly, running through the doorway and skidding on the stone floor. "Where's my precious Miley—?"

Everyone suddenly hushed him by hissing and holding their finger to their lips.

"Sleeping." Sephiroth growled.

Zack's mouth formed an understanding 'o' and he dramatically snuck with crouched knees and bent elbows to a chair, careful to sit on it without it squeaking.

Gillian smiled.

"Zack, show some manners." Angeal told him. "This is my mother, say hello."

Zack frowned at how childishly he was being treated. "Hello." He whispered.

Gillian simply smiled at him, and then frowned at Sephiroth. "Sit down Sephiroth; do any of you want vegetable stew?"

Stomachs immediately began grumbling in reply.

"Yeah!" Zack shouted loudly, earning more hushes and a slap over the head by Angeal.

Sephiroth sat down and felt the painful tension leave his body.

Large bowls were placed down in front of them and were filled with stew. Spoons were laid out next along with large chunks of bread and cups of caffeine-free coffee.

The room was suddenly quiet as satisfied grunts and clinks of spoons on china bowls filled the nights' air.

Another figure dressed in red wandered in and sat down. "Hello Aunt Gillian." He greeted, holding her hand for a split second as she walked to the cooker to dish-up Genesis' food. "It appears I'm staying here tonight."

"Not so loud, Miley's sleeping." Angeal told him.

Genesis nodded. "My room is filled with fathers' tools and boxes… there was a nest of dead beetles on my bed."

They listened but gave reply as they filled their stomachs. Genesis' didn't care since his own bowl was laid out before him and he immediately dug in.

"_That_ was delicious." Sephiroth said as he finished his remaining bread.

Gillian smiled. "You finished first, so go and have a bath."

Sephiroth looked surprised. "It's alright for me to do so?"

Gillian laughed. "Of course, your suitcase is in there."

Sephiroth stood, walked to the bathroom door and closed the door behind himself.

Angeal quickly finished and lifted his warm mug. "How has Miley been?"

"It's hard to explain. She's been happy but slightly distraught."

"That's to be expected." Genesis said. "I'd always cry when my mother went away."

"There wasn't a time when you didn't cry." Angeal added, slapping Zack on the back for slurping the remaining juice from his bowl.

Sephiroth quickly emerged from the bathroom, dressed in loose black cotton trousers and a black T-shirt.

"Thank you Aunt Gillian. Before anyone else goes in I'd like to discuss sleeping arrangements." He sat down once again. "Miley is in one of the beds I take it?"

Gillian nodded, becoming extremely tired herself.

"Then we will have to pair up."

"Why?" Zack asked.

"There are two beds in that room and a mattress. We don't want to wake Miley up by adding extra weight to her bed. You'll pair-up with me…" He said with dread.

"I'm smaller than all of you though."

Genesis nodded. "Yes but that doesn't count, you move too much when you're asleep."

Zack pouted and childishly slumped in his seat, crossing his arms and scowling.

"I'll have a bath next." Genesis said, standing and walking into the bathroom.

There was no conversation after that. Gillian went to bed, as did Sephiroth.

After climbing the stairs behind Gillian, Sephiroth stood in the bedroom's doorway and watched Miley sleeping.

He smiled and walked forwards, quietly slid the dusty mattress out from under the bed and laid down on the bed opposite Miley's.

Several pillows and two small duvets were thrown at him.

"Thank you." He said, watching Gillian disappear back into her room. He threw a pillow and duvet onto the mattress and made himself comfy on the bed.

He was almost asleep when Genesis added his weight to the bed and laid on his side facing Miley.

"Give me some covers." He childishly demanded, tugging at the duvet and pillow.

Sephiroth unwillingly allowed Genesis a fifth of the duvet and listened as Angeal and Zack arrived and slept on the mattress.

The room was suddenly filled with memories and snoring. As Sephiroth closed his eyes a sudden memory flashed through his mind of another small girl lying in Miley's bed with long blond hair and blue eyes. He knew who she was, but didn't have the energy to speak her name as he drifted into sleep.

Miley slowly opened her eyes the next morning. She rolled over, and saw Sephiroth on the bed opposite her, with Genesis sleeping in front of him.

Miley jumped out of her bed and fell onto Angeal's stomach, crawled over Zack, climbed onto the bed, scratched her way over Genesis' body and sat on her fathers' chest.

"Ou' back! Ou' back!" **(You're back! You're back!)** Miley shouted repeatedly while bouncing on Sephiroth.

"This brings back memories." Genesis mumbled, waking up.

Sephiroth groaned and stopped Miley from bouncing by making her lay down on the bed with his arm wrapped around her waist and arms.

"Yes, I am back and I'm very tired." However, before he could finish what he wanted to say Miley had wriggled out of his grip, and been grabbed by Zack who began tickling her.


	14. Chapter 12

They ate breakfast in Gillian's kitchen at nine o'clock in the morning, all of them felt clean and refreshed after the shower they'd had the night before and the lay-in that had taken up most of the morning. Miley sat on Sephiroth's lap chewing her slice of toast whilst he drank the remainder of his morning coffee. He almost choked on the hot liquid when Miley hugged him tightly.

"Daddy!" She squealed before he could demand she remove her arms from his body. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" The repeated sounds irritated Sephiroth's ears.

He placed his cup back down on the table and pulled Miley's arms away from him. "Quiet." He harshly demanded.

Gillian glared at him. "Sephiroth!" Both she and Zack squawked at him, smiling at each other momentarily before Zack allowed Gillian to continue. "Miley is your daughter, you've been at war and this is the first morning she's seen you since you left! At least be a little patient and stop overusing that selfish authority Shinra's granted you!"

With Gillian's speech ended Zack loudly clapped his hands. "Way ta' go Angeal's mom!" He laughed receiving a slap on the head from Angeal.

Sephiroth frowned like a little boy would after being slapped on the hand and having a finger wagged at him. He frowned angrily down at Miley as she slapped him as hard as she could for a small child of her age. "Be a good 'ittle boy daddy!" **(Be a good little boy daddy!)**

Once again Zack began laughing, as did Genesis who smirked into the mug he was drinking from.

"You do not hit!" Sephiroth shouted, harshly slapping the back of Miley's hand. Miley's lip immediately began to quiver and her eyes watered as she held the back of her now stinging hand.

"Sephiroth! You can't slap a child for slapping you! It's wrong and confusing!" Gillian scolded, slamming her mug onto her green wicker coaster and standing from her seat. As she stood the legs of her chair scraped across the stone floor and the table wobbled a little as the mug was slammed down.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes as though he were a teenager. Miley sobbed and skidded off Sephiroth's lap. Zack held his arms out and placed a sympathetic look on his face, then pouted when Miley ran to Angeal with outstretched arms.

"If your opinion actually mattered Angeal wouldn't have fled to Shinra when he was so young!"

The words were harsh and hollered at Gillian with a cruel tone and a cold face filled with the weight of the world. It stunned the table into silence and Miley's sobs died down to hiccups. The air was so thick with tension Masamune would have had trouble slicing through it. One wrong word and everything would be thrown into even more disarray.

"Let's take this outside." Gillian dangerously said in a low voice. Sephiroth rose to his feet with a look of violence on his face and stormed from the small house. Gillian began walking towards the door and Angeal held her wrist firmly as she attempted to pass him. "Angeal—" Angeal shook his head at her, pulled Miley off his lap and stood up.

"I'll take care of this; you take care of Miley and make sure Zack doesn't make himself too emotional." He let go of her and walked outside.

Sephiroth was nowhere to be seen, but Angeal reckoned that he knew where he would be.

He walked through the village to a small path surrounded by trees and down a grassy and muddy gorge was a river that was shallow and flowing gently that day rolling off and around grey mossy rocks. They all used to play in this area often and go skinny dipping when Gillian wasn't with them, but after a certain incident they'd had to stop on pain of death.

Angeal walked down the path, kicking stones as they rolled away from the soles of his shoes. He couldn't admire the scenery as he wanted to and only stopped his fast paces once he came to a sloping part of the gorge that was safe to walk down amongst the broken pieces of wood, rocks and small shrubs. At the bottom of the gorge was a small rounded clearing covered in rocks and sand much like a miniature beach. The water was shallow and much like a little pool. Sitting on one of the rocks with his head in his hands and his back to Angeal was Sephiroth. Angeal sighed and walked towards the man, the anger he'd had in his heart was now full of understanding and pity for the man.

"Sephiroth." Angeal called as he purposely skidded down the sloping gorge onto the small bank.

Sephiroth raised his head and didn't turn to look at Angeal but kept his eyes firmly fixed over the gently flowing water. "You're supposed to be Aunt Gillian, and she wouldn't have thought to look for me here." He said, almost sadly as Angeal approached him and sat down next to him.

"You know how my mother gets depressed; you had no right to say that just because you're down." He firmly replied. "So with worry that you'll both have a conversation that will throw her into a relapse and take another overdose I'm here in my mother's place."

Sephiroth made a small sound in his throat. "As if you could understand how I feel."

"Tell me then."

Sephiroth took in a deep breath and sighed, knowing that when talking to Angeal there was no escaping. "The last time we came here… things were different…"

Angeal lent back. "They always are… that's how life is. Everything and everyone is born, we grow up and our feeling change along with the scenery and places we see together, life goes on and we naively believe it'll never end and then we die… left with only memories of what we once knew."

"Hm… dead…" Sephiroth clearly but quietly said. "This place… we used to come down here and swim when we knew aunt Gillian wouldn't be watching, you, Genesis, I…and Katie."

Angeal nodded, remembering the time and thinking of what he could say once Sephiroth was done reminiscing.

_Sephiroth laughed as Katie tiptoed into the cold water. Everyone's clothing was in a messy pile on the ground collecting sand. Angeal and Genesis were stood behind Sephiroth, splashing each other and screaming playful abuse at one another._

"_It's cold!" Katie shrieked; none of them seemed to care that passerby's might hear them in their careless state of childhood bliss that they knew would disappear by the next time they visited Banora._

"_Just come in!" Sephiroth yelled, splashing water at her._

_Katie flinched as droplets of water touched her skin. "It's inhumanely possible to go in there!"_

"_I'm in here aren't I?"_

_Katie looked up at him with shy mischievous eyes. "That's true… but you're not exactly human!"_

_Sephiroth's eyes widened. "What? If you don't come in we're all coming to get you and pull you in!"_

_Katie tiptoed in further and stood in the water shivering as the wet covered her feet and ankles. "No, I'm getting out." She walked out the water, up the bank and sat on the top of a rock, feeling the warmth from the rock on her bare skin._

"_How can you get out when you never actually came in?" Genesis called, sounding almost offended._

"_A female's way of thinking with a lack of pride and lack of honour to go swimming with magnificent people like us." Angeal muttered._

_Sephiroth frowned and waded through the water. "I'm a man…teen… of my word." Angeal and Genesis nodded and ran out the water and up the bank with Sephiroth._

_Katie didn't realise what was happening until her arms and legs were dragged and she was pulled down from the rock, kicking and screaming as though she were being murdered. She was thrown into the water with an almighty splash and arose coughing and spluttering. "YOU NASTY—!"_

_The three boys were almost hyperventilating as they laughed. "Not so cold now is it?" Genesis shouted and then screamed as he was splashed._

"_GENESIS!"_

"_ANGEAL!"_

_All four teenagers in the water turned their heads and paled at the two furious and embarrassed women glaring at them._

"_Mom…" Both Angeal and Genesis mumbled, afraid as the two women struggled down to the bank._

_Katie and Sephiroth deemed themselves safer than the two boys considering that their names hadn't been yelled along with the other two._

"_Get out here now!" Lucia shouted as she got her foot tangled in someone's underwear._

_Genesis and Angeal's cheeks flushed blood red and they covered themselves with their hands as they waded out of the water with their heads hung. Once on land they began untangling their clothing from the pile sending socks and trousers flying in different directions. Sephiroth and Katie simply stood in the water staring like sitting ducks, unsure of what to do._

"_You two as well!" Gillian angrily called. "Both of you out here now!"_

_Katie and Sephiroth both waded out. Sephiroth crouched down and began to search for his clothing as Angeal and Genesis redressed themselves. Katie stood, staring down at the pile with he arms wrapped around her middle._

"_Katie!" Lucia shouted at the girl, noticing for the first time that she was also naked._

_Genesis laughed and pulled a lump from the back of his jeans. "I found your ultimate weapon Katie!" He waved the white training bra around. Lucia snatched it from him and slapped his arm. _

"_Get dressed and then we are going to have a very long chat."_

_Katie took the bra from Lucia and began struggling to put it on. "Want some help Katie?" Sephiroth offered as he pulled his T-shirt over his head._

_Katie nodded. "Yes plea—"_

"_SEPHIROTH!" Gillian yelled in horror. _

_Sephiroth looked confused. Back at the Shinra building nakedness of either sex was no problem, it never had been, and even though he was fifteen and Katie was almost eleven the scientists and carers for young soldiers were kept happy and not terribly bothered if they happened to see either one of them without their clothing, although they would give dirty remarks… but surely that didn't matter here._

"_What?" He dumbly replied, not knowing what he had done wrong, he had been helping Katie dress since she was a toddler._

_Both women were speechless; Sephiroth and Katie really had no idea what they had done wrong._

"_All of you get dressed, we're going home and then we are going to have a very long chat." Gillian ordered, surprisingly calm._

_Katie struggled into her clothing and walked home nervously with the others. She sat in Gillian's kitchen between Angeal and Genesis, waiting for the two women to also come into the house. Gillian and Lucia were stood outside talking about how they would face the situation. At last they walked in with serious faces._

"_Katie, go upstairs, we'll call you down later." Gillian told her. Katie worriedly looked at Sephiroth, back home when she was told to go upstairs, or told that she would be called back down later it meant painful things were about to happen._

_Lucia sighed and sat down in Katie's seat. She only began talking once she heard Katie's door close. "I hope at least TWO of you know what you've done." Sephiroth looked confused as both Angeal and Genesis hung their heads and nodded. "And… one of you doesn't." Once again Sephiroth looked lost and confused._

"_You SHOULD ALL KNOW that skinny dipping in a public area is wrong and we've told two of you in the past not to do it for your own health and safety as well as for the other village people." Gillian told them; stepping forwards and sitting in a chair at the head of the table._

_Both Angeal and Genesis hung their heads and swung their legs as they fidgeted with their hands. "Sorry…"_

_Lucia nodded in approval. "The reason for this isn't to deprive you of your fun, but the last time you… Angeal and Genesis, did something like this Angeal, you were stabbed in the back by a rock and you, Genesis, almost drowned and then caught pneumonia! Then there was that awful experience with your father Genesis…" _

"_Mom don't!" Genesis begged, covering his ears and squirming in his seat._

"_Please don't aunt—!"_

"_He and his work colleagues come by and see's you both wrestling in your birthday suits! What were they supposed to think? It spread about the village and several families thought you were both bad associates for their children, there were public debates on whether or not you should still attend the local school and several families moved away!"_

"_That was drastic…" Genesis mumbled under his breath and swung one leg back and forth. "It was only a game we didn't know how it looked…"_

"_Those families were snobs!" Angeal shouted._

_Gillian shook her head. "No they weren't, because a week later when we thought everything was sorted you and Genesis took all the village children down to the gorge and practically had a party… charging them their best candies for a good dip. The youngest one was three and went missing for two days!"_

_Angeal hung his head, knowing that it was true and the village had-had a reason to be wary of them until they signed up for soldier in Midgar._

"_Do you understand too, Sephiroth?" Gillian asked him. Sephiroth nodded his head, he now understood why they were so angry about that, but what he didn't understand was about to be discussed. "Good, now then, to move onto the puberty side of things."_

"_No mom!"_

"_Don't!"_

"_It's too traumatic!" Both Angeal and Genesis begged, but the lecture continued._

"_You have all reached a certain age… Katie too. Katie is starting to develop, as are you… so it's modest and decent for boys and girls not to… bare too much skin when in the presence of each other until a much…much later date." Gillian kindly explained._

_Genesis and Angeal seemed to understand. "Why?" Sephiroth asked. "When's the right date? What's wrong with it?"_

_Gillian sighed and smiled at the boy's naivety. "The right time would be when a male and female are… um… For the sake that you're very young I'll say married, you'll understand what I mean when you're older. You have to love Katie more than anything else before it's alright to see parts of her like that because you're both changing and—"_

"_She means she's worried that Katie'll get pregnant and we'll all get thrown out of Shinra." Genesis boldly told him, saying it to cause mayhem._

"_Genesis!" Lucia shouted._

_Gillian sighed and nodded. "In life one thing can lead to another before you know it and mistakes can happen."_

_Sephiroth had-had enough of this conversation, he knew about the birds and the bees, he'd done that for as long as he could remember, always right after tea at about six. "Is that how Angeal was born?" He questioned with a nasty smile. Genesis snickered and Angeal made a very unhappy face._

_Gillian frowned. "That's really none of your business."_

_Sephiroth's face held a very dopey expression. "Why?" The question sent his friends into a laughing and giggling overload._

"_You know why now, so go outside while we talk to Katie. Remember, I never want to find you in this situation again."_

"_Okay mom." Angeal laughed. "We promise."_

"_You promise what?"_

"_Th-that we'll never let you find us doing it again!" He was laughing so hard that tears began to stream down his face and his words were strained as though he were crying._

_Lucia frowned at them and out on her best serious voice that gleamed with authority. "If you do it again we will tell Exodus and let him deal with you." The laughing suddenly stopped._

"_That's right." Gillian agreed._

_The boys suddenly fled from the house in fear. "Sorry." Each one of them muttered as they left the house._

"_What did Aunt Gillian and Aunt Lucia want to talk to you about?" Sephiroth asked Katie that evening as they sat on the front step of the house._

"_They said it was wrong to swim naked with boys and that it could lead to bad things… then they told me I'm not allowed to sleep in the same room as you and the others because they've realised I'm too old."_

"_Oh…"_

_Katie blushed. "Then they told me what would happen when I get older and mature…"_

_Sephiroth looked confused. "What will happen?"_

_Katie stood up and stomped back into the house. "I'm not telling you because you're a boy!"_

_Sephiroth pouted and was very curious about the further changes that would happen to Katie as she grew, but when he heard Katie screaming that night in terror because "there was so much blood" he got his answer._

Angeal laughed a little. "You've got to go through all that with Miley yet."

Sephiroth smiled sadly. "If she's anything like her mother it won't be too bad."

"But it's you dealing with her… and I've seen how you treat her even with minor things that most fathers would turn a blind eye to." His voice was serious.

Sephiroth sighed. "I never would have gotten away with something like that, I would have been given a good belting and then—"

"I don't want to be reminded of the rest." Angeal harshly said with his eyes tightly closed. "NEVER let anyone do those things to Miley! Or any other child… And don't hit her for hitting you; it will only result in her believing that hitting is acceptable because you do it. Learn to acknowledge bad behaviour and learn how to control your temper. Stop hurting others because you're having a hard time."

Sephiroth sighed. "I keep seeing her…"

"She was your wife Sephiroth and gave you a child that looks just like her. You miss her, it's a feeling you'll get used to eventually and it will seem to be less painful. But being cruel to my mother and others is unacceptable! As the general of Shinra's army you should know better!"

Sephiroth took in a deep breath of fresh air and slowly let it out. "I apologise."

"Good." Angeal stood. "Now come home and say that to your daughter and my mother."

Sephiroth sighed and stood, walking back up the bank and along the path. "We should walk along here today." He said, the statement seemingly coming from nowhere.

Angeal nodded. "I'll convince mother to bring the camera."

"They have rabbits along here."

Angeal nodded. "That they do." He could tell by the way Sephiroth spoke that he was struggling to control his saddened feelings, but Angeal hadn't seen Sephiroth cry since he was a teenager, he hadn't even cried when Katie was pronounced dead, he fainted yes and got drunk, even had a breakdown, but hadn't let it out the way he should have done.

"Think of how Miley will react."

Angeal laughed, imagining the toddler's face.

The walk home soon ended and Sephiroth walked into the house, looking so tall and muscular, inside his pride was wounded and he was trembling like a leaf.

Gillian was stood at the sink drying up the remaining dishes from breakfast when Sephiroth stood behind her. "Aunt Gillian—" He was about to ask her outside so he could apologise when she interrupted him with a tight hug that made his entire body go stiff.

"Apology accepted."

Sephiroth pulled a face and nodded. "Thank you…"

Gillian let go and continued drying up with a large smile on her face as she listened to Miley slide down the stairs on her backside and then run to Sephiroth.

"Daddy!" She called; she had obviously forgotten the events from that morning. "Look!" She held a picture up and Sephiroth bent down to have a proper look at it.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the colourful blobs and black scribbles. "It's very… good." He sighed. "I apologise for slapping you."

Miley looked confused, she'd never heard him apologise or have such an embarrassed expression on his face. "Uncwle Angel!" She called, running from her father to the tall man standing in the doorway, Sephiroth was almost unsure of what to do, there had been no "Ok" "I'm sorry too"… nothing… He stood and sat down at the table, happy that the worse was over.

"Sephiroth suggested we walk to Watersmeet." Angeal said as he lifted Miley up and nodded approvingly at the paper that was shoved at his face.

"Oh? I suppose we can. Exodus came by earlier and said that he wants to take you all out for a drink tonight. I gather he means late tonight."

Sephiroth nodded. "Fine."

"Sephiroth, get Miley ready to go to Watersmeet and I'll… get Zack dressed and ready…" Angeal dropped Miley on Sephiroth's lap and walked up the stairs, feeling ashamed that his student was like his own child.

Sephiroth stared down at Miley and she smiled back up at him. Gillian turned around and dried her hands on the damp tea towel. "Hopefully this outing with bring out those 'fatherly' feeling you're hiding somewhere."

Sephiroth was unsure of how to take it and nodded; he carried Miley upstairs and sat her on the bed helping her into her small shoes.

"Uncwle Gen'sis!" **(Uncle Genesis!) **Miley shouted at the man sitting on the bed opposite her reading Loveless. His legs were spread out on the mattress and his ankles were crossed.

Genesis turned and smiled at her. "Going somewhere?"

Sephiroth brushed Miley's hair with difficulty as she squirmed. "To Watersmeet. All of us, that includes you."

Genesis closed his book and smiled. "That sounds fun."

Miley wrestled herself away from Sephiroth and ran to Genesis. "Uncwle Gen'sis do i'!" **(I want Uncle Genesis to do it!)**

Genesis swung his legs over the side of the bed and held his hand out for the brush and watched Sephiroth search for his black jean jacket once the brush was taken from him. "We going out an' Pancake's coming too!" Miley shouted, it was a fact not a question. Genesis spun Miley around so she was facing Sephiroth and he brushed her hair down her back. It was quite long, she definitely had Sephiroth's hair.

"Just don't lose it." Sephiroth said as he pulled the jacket on.

Genesis finished brushing Miley's hair and she turned around to stare up at him. "Gen'sis daddy said he' going ou' wit' 'ou 'nigh'!" **(Genesis' daddy said he is going out with you tonight!)**

"That's right." Genesis replied.

"Ta' the bup!"

Genesis laughed. "No, he's taking us to the pub."

Miley let out a breathy sigh and then walked out of the room.

"She gets that from you." Angeal said as he stood in the doorway and Miley walked past him.

"Where is Zack?" Sephiroth asked.

"In the bathroom washing his face. We'll be ready to go as soon as he's done." He then turned and walked downstairs with Genesis and Sephiroth following him. He was happy to see that Gillian had the camera with her in its bag on her narrow hip.

"I'm ready!" Zack cried out suddenly and ran from the bathroom. "Let's go!" He punched his fist in the air, scooped Miley up and ran from the house. Everyone simply watched in amusement as he ran back and stood in the doorway. "Where are we going?"

Sephiroth and Angeal sighed at the boy's stupidity and Genesis snorted. Gillian simply held a smile on her face.

After answering Zack's questions they began walking and were soon walking down the path of Watersmeet, the events from that morning seemingly forgotten.

"Aunt Gillian. What are you doing?" Sephiroth asked with dread in his voice as Gillian walked over to him with the video camera in her hands.

Miley was enjoying the walk, Zack had put her down shortly after leaving the house and she ran in circles, giggling and asking question. Sephiroth would have been enjoying the walk too if it was not for the little girl running in circles, asking questions and begging for answers.

"A video camera, Angeal sent it down not too long ago." She replied, and handed the device to Angeal who was walking beside her.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Angeal questioned.

"I don't know how to work it, make sure you film Miley."

"Smile…!" Angeal called as he purposely pointed the camera in Sephiroth's direction.

Genesis had walked on earlier, saying that he'd meet up with them all later. Like Sephiroth, he could be a bit of a brooding loner, though, currently, unlike Sephiroth, _he_ was free to leave. Gillian and Genesis' parents could never understand _why_ or _how_ Genesis was such a city-boy… and the 'Dandy-Highway-Man' as Sephiroth had called him. That joke was soon shot back at him by being called the 'Daddy-Highchair-Man'.

"Uncwle Angel! Uncwle Angel, wha' tha'?" **(Uncle Angeal! Uncle Angeal! What is that?)** Miley asked loudly as she tugged on Angeal's trouser leg while looking up at the camera.

Angeal smiled. "I'll show you later." He told her, pointing the camera down at her as he spoke.

"Bu' I wan' 'knows now." **(But I want to know now.)** She whined, but not in a selfish manner.

Angeal simply (and childishly) poked his tongue out. "Go and play with your father." He happily told her.

"Turn that thing off!" Sephiroth growled loudly, walking ahead of them so his back was the only thing that could be filmed.

"Daddy! Cawwy me!" **(Daddy! Carry me!)** Miley happily demanded, running to him and lifting her arms in the air.

"No." Sephiroth grunted.

"Pwease!" Miley whined, and then yelped, as Zack crept up behind her and scooped her up then sat her on his shoulders.

"Your dad's a big stick in the mud!" Zack exclaimed loudly. "Can you say that?" He asked Miley kindly.

"Daddy a big fing in mud…!"

"Nooooo… Zack said. "Say: My daddy's,"

"My daddy…"

"A big,"

"A big"

"Stick in the mud."

"Daddy a big dig in tha' mud". The way Miley had said 'dig' made it sound like a completely different word. Luckily there were no passers-by at that moment.

Zack along with everyone else was shocked. Angeal was too, but was happy that he hadn't turned the camera off since the look on Sephiroth's face was priceless, with his eyes wide and mouth hanging open as such a sweet little thing unknowingly swore.

"I-I didn't know she couldn't say stick!" Zack shouted in his defence. Holding his hands up as Miley squealed and grabbed onto his neck to stop prevent herself from falling. Miley was laughing as she squealed, Sephiroth looked angry, and she thought it was a funny face he was making.

Zack quickly lifted Miley off his shoulders and put her on the floor. She stumbled and fell on her rear, watching confused as Zack began running from Sephiroth, who was calmly walking after him with a hint of anger in one eye and amusement in the other.

Miley laughed, picked herself up and ran back to Angeal who was laughing and filming.

"Uncwle Zack running!" Miley stated loudly, pulling on Gillian's long grass-coloured skirt with one hand and tugged on Angeal's black trousers with the other.

There was a loud scream from Zack, which sent Angeal running around the corner curiously.

Zack had fallen into a muddy riverbank ditch. He was sitting with his hands supporting his weight.

Angeal laughed and continued filming as Zack grumbled and attempted standing. He managed to stumble to his feet and tried to get his balance as his feet skid about. It was a funny sight to watch, he shuffled one leg an inch inwards, then the other, and repeated this until he was standing straight, though he kept his arms out to attempt to keep his balance. Then after all that he flapped his arms and tumbled down into the wet mud.

Miley and Gillian had caught up by then and were laughing too while Sephiroth stood and watched with a proud burning in his eyes, but nothing resembling a laugh bubbled out of him.

"Daddy! Uncwle Zack felled down!" **(Daddy! Uncle Zack fell down!)** Miley chirped, tugging on Sephiroth's trousers. She would have struggled to reach and pull on his jacket, but he had left that in the house, and was wearing a black T-shirt instead. When Miley had first seen the jacket lying on the bed that morning she had said that it looked like the tent on Dumbo because it was so big. Sephiroth had smiled lightly, an achievement for him.

"I can see that…" Sephiroth replied in a low voice. _'I was the one that pushed him.' _He thought proudly as he watched Zack climb out the muddy ditch, pulling himself up along with blades of grass that he was gripping onto.

"Thanks for helping!" Zack shouted with a playful frown on his face. "I thought that you would have helped!" He jokingly said to Miley. She was still laughing and jumped up and down in a playful happiness.

"Uncwle Zack funny!" Miley giggled as Zack arose from his kneeled form.

Gillian laughed. "There's a clean river not far from here. You can wash yourself off in there. There's also a sandy bank where Miley can play for the time being." She told him happily, not knowing that Sephiroth and Angeal had spoken there earlier.

"And what am I supposed to wear on my butt while my trousers are drying?" Zack loudly asked.

"You have pants on, don't you?" Sephiroth questioned in his know-it-all voice.

"I don't wear what I don't need!" Zack proudly stated, making it worse by pulling his trousers higher. Sephiroth's eye's rolled and Gillian shook her head. And of course, Zack's mentor sighed Zack's name with a slight disappointment and embarrassment.

Miley began laughing again. "Uncwle Zack gots no knickers on!" **(Uncle Zack has no knickers on!)** She laughed, continuing to jump up and down.

"Men don't wear 'knickers'… well, _not the normal men anyway_…" Zack replied, mumbling the last half of his sentence.

"Uncwle Zack ain' normal!" **(Uncle Zack is not normal!)** Miley stated as she tried to hold Sephiroth's hand. "Can go now?" **(Can we go now?)**

Gillian smiled at her. "Yes. We're going now." Therefore, they set off again. Angeal was filming the entire time as they walked along.

Sephiroth watched as they once again approached the beach-like area where he and Angeal had spoken, this time, he noticed, there was not as much pain in his chest, simply a dull throb.

Miley squealed, and rolled down onto the sandy bank. Sephiroth sighed, and sat on one of the damp mossy rocks while Miley picked up different rocks to show everyone the different shapes and became frustrated as she tried to push, pull and lift a square rock that was taller than she was. When she gave up she pointed at the rock while looking at Sephiroth and shouted: "Too heavy daddy!' **(It is too heavy daddy!)**

Genesis grinned from a shady corner. He was creeping towards Sephiroth, completely hidden from Sephiroth's view. In his hand was a rusty old can filled with water. Lifting it carefully he spilled it down his comrades back.

Sephiroth almost yelped and spun around in surprise.

"You are slipping Sephiroth." Genesis mocked, walking around Sephiroth and seating himself next to him.

"Uncwle Gen'sis!" **(Uncle Genesis!)** Miley called, running to him. "Look! I gots lots o' wocks!" **(Look! I have a lot of rocks!) **She stared up at Sephiroth, whose hair was only partly wet. "Why daddy hair wet?" **(Why is daddy's hair wet?)** She asked.

"I got him a little wet for fun." Genesis told her, shuffling over to let Gillian sit down.

"Tha' like big baf'!" **(That is just like a big bath!)** Miley stated, pointing to the river that Zack was currently sitting in, looking cold since he sat himself down in his trousers to clean them off a little.

"Would you like to go in?" Gillian asked. Miley nodded. "Come here then."

"She hasn't got a swim-suit." Sephiroth sternly mumbled, crossing his arms.

"She won't need one; she's only a small child." Sephiroth frowned. "Don't give me that look. I know you're not that modest or you wouldn't even _have_ a child." Sephiroth mumbled something under his breath. "What was that?" Gillian questioned.

"He said what if someone sees her? We were told not to do that when we were younger." Genesis told her before Sephiroth could speak.

"Sephiroth, she's only a _little_ girl and we're the only one's here. Also, you did go in naked until you were about thirteen. _Then_ I _had_ to say _no_."

Sephiroth said nothing, but looked like he was sulking. _'We stopped when we were sixteen actually… we just never told you…'_

"And there's no exception for Zack." Angeal grinned as he filmed Zack sulking in the cold water and Miley toddling down to the river.

"I take it you haven't told Miley what the camera does?" Genesis spoke as he read from his book.

"I wanted her to act natural, so I told her I'd tell her later."

"How much more natural can you get than that?" Sephiroth mumbled, as he looked away from Angeal, his arms still crossed.

"You seem embarrassed." Angeal grinned. "You've seen her naked before haven't you? It's not as if there's anything new for you to see."

"I'm not so sure." Genesis spoke as he put his book in the pocket of his brown jacket. Like Sephiroth, he had left his long red coat at Gillian's home. "I heard from Cissnei that he tried to force her to bathe Miley. Apparently she had to escape before he could grab her again."

Gillian smiled slightly. "You've no need to be embarrassed, Sephiroth."

"I am NOT embarrassed!" He growled, much louder than intended. "_No one's taking in the fact that my face is always in magazines and news-papers advertising rumours. The last thing I need is a heading exclaiming 'Paedophile General_.'" His voice was much lower this time.

Gillian shook her head. "Nothing like that is going to happen. They might try giving you a father's award, but nothing like _th_a_t_."

"No one would ever believe she's yours. There's absolutely no resemblance…" Angeal said as he continued to film.

"And she's too nice." Genesis added plainly. "She's cute and sweet too. She's the complete opposite of you Sephiroth. She's like her mother."

Sephiroth said nothing and watched Miley splash Zack.

Angeal momentarily glared at Genesis but then turned his attention back to the two _children _splashing each other in the water.

"Mother? Are you alright?" Angeal worriedly inquired as he saw tears in Gillian's eyes.

Gillian smiled sadly. "Genesis is right, Miley does look like Katie." She quickly turned her heard towards the shuffling noise she heard as Sephiroth abruptly stood and walked along the longer section of the sandy bank that had become visible, walking over rocks with ease as he kept his hands in his pockets and his head staring at his footsteps. Both Angeal and Gillian sighed at him and looked back towards Miley and Zack, Miley was now staring at her father and struggled out of the water to run after him.

"Hey!" Zack cried out, he had been enjoying the splashing war; it wasn't fin when the opposing army surrendered.

"Daddy!" Miley called, struggling up the tall rocks so she could follow her father. She gripped onto the blunt edge of the rock and jumped up several times until she finally stopped. A large shadow suddenly covered her and she looked up to see Sephiroth standing above her. Miley pouted and poked her tongue out at him. To her surprise Sephiroth bent down and pulled her up then began walking back across the rocks with her small wet form.

Angeal filmed the moment and smiled, wondering what sort of conversation the father and daughter were having.

Zack waded out of the water a while later to dry off.

"That's not going to come off Miley." Sephiroth told his daughter, as she attempted to pull a limpet off a rock with a look of frustrated determination her face.

"Did you really have to push me?" Zack mumbled as he shivered.

"Yes. As your commanding officer it was my job to do so." Sephiroth answered in a plain authoritative voice.

"Daddy!" Miley shouted as she pulled on his trouser leg. "I cold… I get dwessed now." **(I am cold and I want to get dressed now.)**

"Let Aunt Gillian dress you." He said, pushing her towards the older woman.

"Now Sephiroth, you need to learn how to do these things yourself." She smiled.

"I wasn't the one who wanted her to go in the water in the first place." He told her in a low voice with a dangerous look in his eyes. Angeal glared at the tone Sephiroth dared to use towards his mother.

Miley turned around and looked up at him. "I wan' you dwessy me!" **(I want you to dress me!)** She chirped, Gillian gave a satisfied look and smiled.

"Turn that thing off!" Sephiroth shouted when he realised that the camera was pointing in his face and had been the entire time.

Miley tugged on him once again, now holding her top up to his face, demanding to be dressed.

Sephiroth sighed and dressed Miley as quickly as he could.

"Look daddy! Look!" Miley shouted. She was sitting on Sephiroth's lap with only her top half dressed as her father brushed the stones off her feet with his hands so there would be no small stones trapped in Miley's clothing.

"I-it a penguin…!"

Sephiroth and everyone else looked at her in amusement and then at the rock where she was pointing.

"A penguin?" Genesis questioned in a voice that adults tend to use when talking to a child. All he could see was a crow.

"Oh… tha' no' a penguin…" **(Oh, that is not a Penguin…)** Miley told them sounding a little disappointed. "I' a stork!" **(It is a stork!)** Angeal laughed and turned the camera off to save the battery.

Miley gasped. "I' flied 'way!" **(It flew away!)**

"We ought to be going now…" Gillian moaned with strain as she stood up.

Miley shook her head as Sephiroth lifted her off him. "I not wan' go yet…" **(I do not want to leave yet…)** She whined. Sephiroth quickly finished dressing her and then stood up himself.

"Come on. We need to get our dinner." Gillian said, and then continued walking. There was a restaurant at the end of the walk. It was about a mile away from where they were at that moment.

Miley was carried up the fairly steep gorge and was put down on her feet once they reached the path again. She ran around a corner and the adults began chatting amongst themselves, when suddenly they heard a bloody series of high-pitched shrieks and screams.

Miley raced back around the corner screaming and tugged on Sephiroth's trousers. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" She screamed and then suddenly ran to the shocked Zack. "Uncwle Zack!"

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth harshly demanded to know.

Miley pointed in the direction she had just come from and smiled as widely as she could. "There a bun'zy wubbit!" **(There is a bunny rabbit over there!) **She happily shouted the scream of terror they had heard had actually been one of sheer joy.

Gillian sighed and bent down as Sephiroth's anger began blazing again. "Miley," she warningly began, catching Miley's attention immediately. "You are NEVER to scream like that again unless you're in serious trouble. It's a naughty thing to do!"

Miley stuck her bottom lip out and hid her face behind Zack's legs as she clutched the material of his trousers.

"Don't be mean!" Zack defended her.

Angeal shook his head. "This is important for her to learn Zack."

Zack frowned and pulled Miley into his arms. "Let's get away from all these mean stiff's!" He shouted, walking away from the four.

Genesis sighed and pulled his LOVELESS book out again. "That rabbit will now be scarred for life." With those words uttered he began walking forwards again.

"I wan' sit next to daddy!" **(I want to sit next to daddy!)** Miley shouted happily as Sephiroth sat himself down at a table along with everyone else. He sighed as Zack helped Miley onto a chair between them both.

They were sitting on white plastic chairs outside a restaurant. Trees and greenery once again surrounded the area. A long river flowed under a bridge that they had crossed to get to the restaurant. The river was in a deep gorge and fenced off so that no one could fall in.

"What does Miley want?" Angeal asked. He was writing the orders down to give to the waiter that had said he would be back in a short while.

"Pancakes!" She answered loudly, hugging Pancake tightly.

Sephiroth shook his head. "You can have a lasagne, pasta, a child's meal, pizza and chips or sausage." He read from the menu.

"Wha' a pizzaza…?"

"We'll get you pizza so you can try it." Sephiroth groaned as he chose for himself.

After a short while, everyone had chosen and eaten. Miley was tired when it was time to walk back. Gillian persuaded Sephiroth to carry her. She was asleep when they got back to the house.

Sephiroth was sat at the table leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed and his arms folded. Angeal was sat opposite him looking just as relaxed; the mug he had been drinking from was now empty and sat on the coaster before him; Zack was at the head of the table reading one of Miley's Maisy Mouse books.

The door opened and Genesis walked in with Exodus following him. "We're leaving now?" Angeal muttered as Genesis stood above him.

"Yes, he says we'll be back late."

Sephiroth childishly sighed and unfolded his legs. "Aunt Gillian!" He called up the stairs. "We're leaving!"

"Let's go before Miley gets up!" Zack shouted, running past Exodus and from the house with the other men in tow.


	15. Chapter 13

Miley sat in a fountain, which was in the central of the Banoran Village, dressed in her vest and knickers. There were several other children playing with her while their parents watched and spoke to their friends. Not once had Sephiroth ever imagined that he would become one of those parents.

Zack stood in the fountain holding the bottom of his black trousers up. Miley looked up at Zack with mischief in her blue eyes. Zack looked down at her and shook his head. "No! No! No!" He shouted quickly as Miley splashed him repeatedly, giggling with an evil laughter.

Sephiroth watched from the doorway of Gillian's house with his arms folded. Angeal looked at him and grinned. "You're smiling." He told him, wondering if maybe Sephiroth was still suffering from his hangover, caused by the previous night.

Sephiroth looked at him. "I am?" He asked, almost surprised. His eyes were still red from the recovering hangover.

Angeal nodded and looked at Miley. "Zack's almost like an older brother to her." It was true, Zack could have passed for Miley's much older brother very easily… to those who didn't know who her parents were of course. "You should go and play with her." He encouraged.

Sephiroth snorted lightly. "The last time I played with her it was all over the news and magazines."

Before Angeal could retort, Miley's little wet figure ran to them, she was laughing and giggling. "I-I spwashed Uncwle Zack!" **(I splashed Uncle Zack!)** She laughed.

Sephiroth smiled and patted her wet blond hair.

"Daddy come pway wit' me!" **(Daddy come and play with me!)** She begged, pulling on his trousers.

Sephiroth was not wearing his leather; he said it was too hot for that, so instead he was wearing a black T-shirt, and black trousers held up by a brown leather belt, also black shoes. When he did wear a jacket, it was a short material one, black of course, colours had never really suited him, yellow made him look ill, red made him look feverish, blue made him look ridiculous… as did pink. Miley had tied his hair back that morning when he had helped Gillian with the cooking; and after readjusting the elastic and getting the knots out of his hair, he couldn't be bothered to take the hair band out.

Sephiroth quietly shook his head.

"Pwease…" **(Please…)** Miley looked up at him with big eyes.

"Not today." He told her.

"Aw…" Miley whined.

"Why don't you play with her, Sephiroth?" Gillian asked from behind them. "It's not as if anything bad is going to happen, the worst that can happen is if Angeal takes photos."

Sephiroth sighed. "You don't understand."

"Angeal's told me all about pride and honour. However, you don't feel honoured when you're with Miley and it doesn't seem to me like you are proud to be her father. You grew up with most of the people here, if anything did land in the papers it would either be a rumour or a true fact."

Sephiroth sighed again.

"I read what the papers said last time." Angeal spoke, as he pulled the video camera out of the bag that hung over his shoulder and bounced on his hip. "Is this the general's daughter? And on the news, it was mostly about how you fought in Wutai. Nothing else..."

"Daddy…!" Miley moaned and whined, pulling on his trouser leg again. She squealed as Zack ran behind her, lifted her up and walked back to the fountain with her whilst he tickled her stomach.

Genesis walked out of the house and gave Angeal a look. They nodded at each other. Genesis quickly grabbed Sephiroth's arms while Angeal grabbed Sephiroth's ankled.

"What are you doing?" Sephiroth demanded to know. "Put me down!"

Angeal and Genesis snickered and laughed above him in the most unnerving way, using all their strength to drop him in the fountain and then run away from the scene like two college boys.

Sephiroth spluttered and coughed as he sat up in the water.

"It's for your own good!" They called. "Miley will love you for it!"

"Daddy!" Miley squealed, as she hugged him from behind.

"You will ALL pay for that!" Sephiroth growled at them. Gillian laughed and smiled as Sephiroth unintentionally began to play with everyone. All he needed was a little push… literally.

Gillian planned how she could give him a talk about how a parent should behave. And she had just the thing, several home movies, something enjoyable and that Sephiroth could learn from and be thoroughly embarrassed by at the same time.

Miley squealed as Sephiroth and Zack played with her. Angeal filmed from a distance, laughing and praying for his safety, fearing Sephiroth's wrath.

"I'll be back soon." Genesis said as he began walking away from the scene. "I'm just going to see if my mother wants any help."

"I'll film what you miss!" Angeal called after him as Zack threatened to dry Miley off by shoving her in an oven.

"— and then I'll shut the door and leave you in there!" He finished his story as Sephiroth was tackled by several hyperactive children… using him as a climbing frame.

"No!" Miley laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck as he sat in the water with her.

Sephiroth frowned as one of the small children pretended to shoot him dead. So, playing along, he dramatically fell back into the water. With a cheer the small children climbed on him, including Miley who sat on his stomach as he held his breath.

Genesis mother, Lucia smiled when she saw the children of the village attacking Sephiroth. Exodus laughed at the sight.

Lucia was carrying a picnic basket ad Genesis was at her side with have a gingerbread man hanging from his mouth and had two large clear bottles in each hand, full of sweet lemonade.

"H-hello Gen'sis daddy! Hello Gen'sis mummy!" Miley called, waving at them as she sat on Sephiroth's stomach. He was still pretending to drown and was completely still under the water. He could get throw the children off him off him if he wished, but he would wait a while until they became worried.

"Uncwle Gen'sis!" Miley called and frantically waved her hand. Genesis waved back at her and put the two jugs on a wooden table that Angeal had brought out of the house. Lucia put down a packet of plastic cups and a carrier bag, which was full of little white paper bags that were full of pick 'n mix sweets for the children.

"You didn't have to bring anything." Gillian told them kindly.

"We wanted to. We love the children here almost as much as you do." She smiled at Sephiroth. "And Genesis explained how Miley loved sweets. There's lemonade as well."

Gillian smiled and thanked them again.

"Who wants sweets and a free story?" Exodus called.

Every child leapt out of the fountain and cheered as they raced towards the table, not caring that they were being scolded for snatching the little white bags and holding out their empty plastic cups expectantly. Zack was among them complaining as Angeal slapped his hands away from the sweets.

"Wait for me! Wait for me!" Miley shouted as she struggled out of the fountain. Being the smallest child it was harder for her to keep up with the others.

"Come on Miley!" Zack loudly encouraged as he lifted her up and ran back to the table. "Can I share your sweets?" His expression dropped into a frown when Miley giggled and shook her head. "No? That's not fair you greedy little rat!" He playfully exclaimed, not expecting Miley to burst into tears as he tickled her tummy. "What's wrong?" He caringly asked, lifting her up and hugging her. "What did I say?"

Miley didn't reply but reached out for her father who happily took her.

Zack looked at Angeal for answers. "You can be so naïve Zack!" Angeal told him. "We don't know what P.H has said to her in the past!"

"P.H?" Zack scratched his head. "What's that?"

"He can't say it aloud. Use your head Zack." Genesis explained, pinching a sweet from a child's packet when his eyes averted.

Zack thought and then clicked his fingers. "Professor Hojo!" He cringed as Miley shrieked in fear and dug her claws into Sephiroth, then began mumbling incoherent begs and other words.

Angeal slapped him over the head as did Exodus as Gillian slapped his cheek. "Was your mother on something when you were conceived? Some form of drug that is now illegal?" Genesis inquired.

Zack glared but then had his ear grabbed by Angeal who dragged him inside for a lecture.

Gillian silently watched as Sephiroth gently swayed Miley from side-to-side and whispered comforting words into her ear to calm her down as she sucked on her thumb and hiccupped.

"— no Hojo here… while I'm here he can't get you… Angeal and Genesis are here too… there's no reason to cry… Zack's just pathetic…" Gillian heard him say until Miley was feeling happy enough to kiss him on the cheek, be lowered to the floor, and hold her cup up to Genesis, demanding lemonade.

"See, you can do it." Gillian said, but Sephiroth didn't hear her.

"I a good girl?" **(Am I a good girl?) **Miley loudly and questionably asked Genesis as she grabbed his legs.

"You're a very good girl Miley." He told her, handing her-her cup and making sure that she definitely had hold of it before letting go.

Sephiroth felt anger in his heart, wondering what Hojo had put his daughter through to make her react so harshly to simple playful words.

'_I'll get some of Hojo's files when we get home.' _He promised himself.

Exodus sat on a chair that had been placed outside and all the children gathered around him. "This is the story about how Genesis was c—"

"No! Not that story!" Lucia screeched, Genesis' conception wasn't suitable for adults to hear let alone children. Leaving out all the details it was a very unique story.

Exodus sighed. "Fine, this is a story I like to call: How Angeal Learnt How to Tie His Shoes." Gillian was slightly happy that Angeal was inside; he would feel humiliated when he heard Exodus telling this tale.

It was evening when the story was finished. Miley had been changed out of her wet vest and knickers into a small pink dress, even though she would soon be in bed. Gillian had told Sephiroth to let Miley have all the time outside that she could, enjoying the fresh country air compared to the crowded, polluted, Midgar streets.

"It's time to come in now!" Sephiroth called from Gillian's doorway. He had changed his wet clothes and was now dressed in loose, grey, cotton trousers and a white shirt.

"Aw…" Miley complained. "B-bu' I don' wan' to!" **(But I do not want to!)** She was playing with a new friend, a little girl named Beatrix.

"Beatrix!" Beatrix's mother called, just at the right time.

The little girl looked at Miley who had folded her arms and was pouting. Determined to stay outside.

"You will do as you are told!" Sephiroth firmly called, sounding a little angry.

Gillian sighed from her kitchen and shook her head before coming to the front door and calling out to Miley.

"Beatrix is going home now! You can play tomorrow!" Miley pouted a little more but came inside all the same as Beatrix ran to her mother.

Miley ran passed Sephiroth and pulled Pancake off the table by his ear.

"You must learn to do as you're told." He said, pulling Miley's nightdress off the table.

Miley didn't answer him and frowned as he began to undress her. "I don' wan' ge' dwess!" **(I do not want to get dressed!) **She screamed at him, shocking Sephiroth. Miley had seemed to be in a good mood all day, what had changed?

Sephiroth glared at her and held her on his lap as she screamed and shrieked, kicking and hitting him as he took her sandals off. "Stop it now!" He shouted, unsure of what to do he slapped her leg and took the opportunity to pull the poppers on the back of her dress apart.

"Sephiroth! What did I say about hitting?" Gillian scolded, standing above the crouching general as he pulled Miley out of her pink dress.

"I'm not the child here, aunt!" He growled, earning a chilling glare from Angeal. "Stay still Miley!"

Gillian sighed. "She's just tired Sephiroth, that's all." She helped him pull Miley's nightdress over the child's head. "Children play up when they get overtired."

Sephiroth tied the button up at the nape of Miley's neck and then stood, leaving her alone as he sat in a chair.

Miley sat on the floor crying. Had Zack not been at Genesis' home, there was no doubt that she would have been scooped up a while ago.

"Put her to bed Sephiroth." Angeal sighed. "She's too tired to be up. It's almost eight o'clock."

Sephiroth crossed his ankles. "She likes you; you can put her to bed."

"No! You're her father, not me."

Begrudgingly, Sephiroth stood and pulled Miley off the floor, climbing the stairs with her in his arms as she mumbled and cried nonsense.

He quietly tucked her in bed and sighed as she crawled onto his lap. "Get under the covers and go to sleep!"

"No!" She shrieked as she was moved and tucked in once again. But as soon as her head hit the pillow her eyes drifted shut and she was out like a light.

Sephiroth closed the curtains, and with one final look at the room he closed the door, leaving it open a little.

He walked back down the stairs and sat in his chair, noticing that Genesis and Zack had returned with the television that they had borrowed and were now setting up.

"Was playing with Miley today all that bad?" Gillian asked as she rested her head against the back of her seat.

"It was hard to tell, all the other children kept getting in the way." He replied jokingly.

Gillian smiled. "See. You are in a better mood after you play with her. Moreover, she wants you to play with her, it's not as if she's asking you not to."

"You did look like you were enjoying yourself. And I've got it on camera to prove it." Angeal grinned as he laid the camera on the table. "Several pictures too."

"Angeal, do me a favour." Gillian said. "Please take the video camera back to Midgar with you and film Miley. I'll never know how to use it, and it will be awkward going over to Genesis's parents when I want to watch what I've filmed." Angeal nodded and agreed.

"I've already arranged with my parents for us to go over there tomorrow and watch what Angeal has filmed already." Genesis explained as he adjusted the aerial on top of the T.V. "I've arranged it for five o'clock."

"That sounds like a good time." Gillian said tiredly as a picture flicked onto the screen.

Miley's crying could be heard and Sephiroth sighed. "She's supposed to be sleeping."

"Go and see to her…" Genesis mumbled as he flicked the channel.

Sephiroth walked up the stairs and saw Miley climbing out of bed with Pancake clutched in her hand. "What's wrong with you now?"

Miley ran to him and clutched onto him. "Mon'dar un' m' bed!" **(There's a monster under my bed!)**

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and crouched down, seeing nothing but dust under the bed. "Go back to sleep, you are perfectly fine." He lifted Miley back into bed and then stood, ready to walk out again.

Miley followed him and he quickly put her back in bed. "You can either stay in bed or—"

"Wan' go downstairs!" Miley cried.

"You can't go downstairs! It is bedtime!"

Miley continued to sob, and no matter how much he tried, Sephiroth could not get her to lay down. "Daddy!"

"Go to sleep!"

The loud noise alerted Gillian, who stood in the doorway. "What's all this noise?" She gently but sternly asked.

Miley reached out towards her.

"She won't go to sleep. She'll make herself sick, crying this much…" Sephiroth explained.

Gillian sat on the bed opposite. "She's gotten too tired… you'll have to thoroughly exhaust her."

"You just said she's exhausted."

"She needs something to relax her… take her for a short walk and then read her a bedtime story."

Sephiroth could tell that Gillian was tired; she kept rubbing her tired eyes and was stifling yawns.

Miley continued to cry and sat on Sephiroth's lap, only to be lifted up, carried downstairs and taken outside into the cool air.

Zack watched as Sephiroth left the house with her but soon turned his attention back to the glowing box.

Miley was put on the ground, she begged to be picked up but Sephiroth refused, he held her hand and walked around with her. He walked her to the edge of Waters Meet, silently, and back again. She was hiccupping and slowed as she yawned.

Sephiroth smiled at this and lifted her up. She fell asleep and he carried her back indoors and upstairs where he laid her in bed and once again, left the room leaving the door open a little.

"What are we watching?" He asked as he sat on a chair.

"I've no idea…" Genesis claimed as he read LOVELESS.

"CSI." Zack replied.

Sephiroth rolled his eyes. "The Crime scene series that's so badly acted no one knows who did what and who was where?"

Angeal nodded in agreement. "That's why they need to show flashbacks every five to ten minutes…"

They fell asleep watching television. When they awoke the next morning, Angeal was going mad over the electric bill, and Sephiroth was silently complaining at the stiffness in his neck.

**Not the best chapter I know, but I wanted to get it posted, it will no doubt be re-posted soon but this is a start!**


	16. Cover

The cover of Parenthood's Nightmare can be found here, on my D.A account. Tell me what you think, I would like to start drawing illustrations for the story!

http:/ final fantasy gamer. deviantart. com/art/Parent Hood-s-Nightmare-Cover- 264895905

You will need to remove the spaces.


	17. Chapter 14

Genesis sat in his parents house in the sitting room, watching as Angeal set the camera up to the television and Miley sat on his back begging him to give her a 'Chocobo ride'.

"Sephiroth, get your daughter off me!" Angeal demanded as Miley grabbed onto his black hair and bounced up and down on his back, begging 'the Chocobo' to move.

Sephiroth was sat next to Genesis with his legs crossed and a glass of Banora Apple wine in his hand. He shook his head and had a wicked smile on his face. "No, Chocobo's should do as they're told."

Angeal glared at Sephiroth and then winced as Miley tugged on his hair, creating a sharp pain in his scalp.

"Move it Tocobo!" **(Move it Chocobo!)** She shouted, her sweet voice giggling after she shouted the words that had sounded harsh.

Angeal sighed, his back hurt as Miley bounced up and down on it, kicking his sides with her heels.

"Daddy! Daddy, make uncwle Angel do i'!" **(Daddy! Daddy! Make uncle Angeal do it!)** She whined, turning her head to look at him.

"Just give him a good kick Miley, he'll definitely move then." Genesis advised.

"OW!" Angeal yelped as he was harshly kicked in the ribs and Miley pulled on his hair again.

Sephiroth laughed in his throat and drank from his glass. Zack walked through the front door, Sephiroth and Genesis's turned their faces towards him.

Zack stared at the scene before him and grinned. "You didn't say you gave Chocobo rides!"

Angeal shouted again as Zack sat on his back behind Miley.

"GET OFF!" Angeal yelled, as Zack's weight was added too his back.

Miley's eyes began to water and she turned to look up at Zack. "Uncwle Angel s'outed!" **(Uncle Angeal shouted!)** She began to cry.

Zack pulled her onto him and scooted further up Angeal's back. "Don't worry! I'll punish him for you." Without any warning, Zack lifted his feet off the floor and began bouncing up and down as Miley had been, putting his full weight on Angeal.

"I SAID GET OFF!" Angeal roared as Miley giggled.

Sephiroth frowned. "I think that's enough now." He said.

"Yes, that vein in Angeal's forehead is visible again; you're certainly on death-row."

Heeding their words, Zack stood up and ran as fast as he could with Miley into the kitchen where Lucia was finishing her baking.

Angeal stood up too quickly in his desperation to kill both Zack and Miley; he felt a sickening crack and his hand flew to nurse his spine.

"My back!" He shouted, doubled over.

Sephiroth and Genesis flinched at the sound of the crack and instantly stood to assist Angeal. "Are you alright?" Sephiroth asked; standing behind him as Genesis walked to the front.

Angeal glared up at him. "Does it look like I'm alright!"

"No need to shout." Genesis calmly stated as Angeal moaned. "At least try standing up properly."

"I can't…" He growled again through grit teeth.

Sephiroth frowned in thought. "I've heard that in cases like this, it sometimes helps to pull the person up."

Genesis nodded, agreeing.

Angeal's arms began flailing as Sephiroth wrapped his arms around his middle. "NO!" Was all he had the time to shout as he was abruptly pulled up. He shouted in pain and his eyes closed tightly.

"No better?" Genesis asked him.

"No…" He growled again, bending back over as Sephiroth let go.

"What on earth is happening in here?" Lucia wondered; walking out of the kitchen, wearing oven-mitts and carrying a how bowl of freshly baked apple pie. Gillian was following her close behind.

Genesis calmly walked back to his seat and sat down. "Zack did it." He childishly said in a calm tine and pulled Loveless out of his pocket.

Gillian raised an eyebrow at Sephiroth expectantly, looking at him as though he were six years old again.

Walking back to his seat and sitting down he quietly spoke. "Miley started it."

Angeal crouched back down on the floor; he was on all fours and trying to find a position that would stop the pain in his back.

"App'wle cake!" **(Apple cake!)** Miley shouted, running from the kitchen to Lucia where she glanced at Angeal and her face lit up again. "Tocobo!" **(Chocobo!)** She ran to Angeal and climbed back on his back, Angeal gasped in pain, unable to speak and Miley began bouncing again and kicking his sides. "Move Tocobo!" **(Move Chocobo!)** She demanded and then frowned as Sephiroth lifted her off Angeal.

"Daddy!" She whined as Sephiroth sat back down and pulled Miley onto his lap.

Angeal was breathing deeply.

"I wants ta p'ay wit' the Tocobo!" **(I want to play with the Chocobo!)**

Sephiroth kept his face stern. "Angeal is not a Chocobo."

"Yes is!" **(Yes he is!)** Miley insisted, nodding her head as she tried to wriggle off Sephiroth's lap, but his arms kept her in place.

Genesis shook his head and turned a page of his book. "Just use a riding crop on him."

"Genesis!" Lucia shouted.

He smiled. "You know I didn't mean it like that, a few whacks would do him good." His frown faded when his mother replied.

"I didn't raise you to say things like that!" She lowered the pie onto the table and pulled her mitts off. "No apple pie for you."

Genesis frowned at her. "That's hardly fair and you know it. Miley and Zack began all of this and all I made was a simple statement."

"That's why Zack and Miley are going to bed early." Gillian told him.

Miley pouted and crossed her arms, in the kitchen Zack began to choke on an olive.

"And I know that the two of you had something to do with it!" Gillian added.

Sephiroth turned his face towards her. "How can you say something like that?"

"Because you two always do! If it's not one it's the other."

Genesis continued to frown. "That's hardly fair! We did nothing but make suggestions and observations."

"Exactly." Lucia told them, sitting on the sofa next to Sephiroth.

"But as a father it's my job to make observations."

Genesis's mouth twitched into a sly smile. "So, you're only a father when the timing suits you?"

"For goodness sake Angeal!" Gillian sat down next to Lucia. "If you're on the floor you can at least make yourself useful and set up the rest of the tape."

"I can't move…" Angeal said in a shaky voice.

Gillian sighed. "Men, it's no wonder us women are the ones to give birth!"

Lucia nodded.

"If you don't move, I'm going to let go of Miley." Sephiroth threatened.

"If you do you will find the camera giving you a live autopsy of your rectu—!"

"Angeal!" Gillian shouted, horrified.

Miley turned around on Sephiroth's lap and stared up at him. "I don' wan'na go bed!" **(I don't' want to go to bed early!)**

"You don't have to go to bed yet." Sephiroth replied.

Miley hugged him tightly and Angeal slowly got off the floor.

"It's all set up…" He grunted, holding a hand to his back as he sat on a soft chair with a groan and a sigh.

The video began to play; Zack sat on the floor and smiled when Miley appeared on the screen.

Miley's mouth hung open and she pointed at the screen. "Tha' Miley!" **(That is me!)**

"That's right." Sephiroth told her.

The time ticked by, and Miley was sent to bed at eight, with Zack…

"No!" Both Miley and Zack whined as they were forced up the stairs, Miley by Sephiroth and Zack by Genesis, since Angeal claimed he was in too much pain to move.

**Authors Note: Note very good I know, but I just wanted to get a new chapter up as soon as I can! So I've uploaded several to make up for it.**


	18. Chapter 15

Sephiroth sat on a table-cloth spread across the grass in one of Banora's meadows watching his daughter pour water into a mug he had brought with him.

This was their last day in Banora. Then they would be going back to the Shinra Building.

So Angeal was spending time with his mother, walking around the village. And Genesis was with his family, under protest of course.

Understanding that they all wanted some family time to themselves, he chose to go on a picnic with Miley and Zack, he hadn't been looking forward to it, but it was turning out to be a good day for him.

Zack had kept Miley busy, telling her that he wanted a feast. Which she had made him, pulling different foods out of the picnic-basket and piling them onto plates and then playing café's with him.

It left Sephiroth a lot of time to relax.

"Tea daddy?" He heard Miley ask him, holding out a mug for him to drink from.

Sephiroth was leaning back on his elbows, his long legs were spread across the grass and his ankles were folded. His head was leaning back and his eyes were closed.

"I'd prefer coffee." He jovially replied, pushing his head up to look at her.

Miley looked down at the cup she was handing out to him, looking slightly confused and then thrusted it back out to him.

"I' change it now!" She told him with a series of nods and walked back down to the shallow lake at the end of the green grass.

Zack was sitting next to Sephiroth and smiling. His legs were crossed and in his hands was a plate with a Miley-made sandwich resting on it, untouched.

"Going back to work tomorrow…" He sighed.

"Then to Costa-Del-Sol." Sephiroth carried on. "Don't tell me you're not looking forward to that."

Zack grinned, a big grin that showed all his teeth. "Of course I am Seph'!"

"Here." Miley bent down next to Sephiroth and put the cup next to another mug that was identical to the one she had lowered down, but the mug was full of 'real coffee' compared to the other mug.

"Just wait a week and we'll be leaving again." He put his hand down to find his warm glass and raised it to his lips, watching the blond-haired toddler toddle back down the lake.

She looked adorable, in a small red-and-white checked dress with a matching ribbon in her shining hair and tiny white sandals on her feet.

Sephiroth was about to take a gulp of his drink when he heard Zack shout and saw the sandwich fly across the meadow.

The sandwich that just happened to be filled with, grass, worms and ants.

Sephiroth laughed as Zack coughed and spluttered. "You ignorant fool Zack." He heartily chuckled. "Eating something that a child makes you."

As Sephiroth took a gulp of his drink and was glared at by Zack, his eyes widened.

He spat the 'coffee' out. Realising that he had taken the wrong cup.

What should have been coffee was in fact lake water, grass, snails, slugs, worms and mud… for extra seasoning.

As Sephiroth spat a worm out Zack was hysterically laughing, holding his stomach as it began to cramp.

"W-what was it you were saying 'Seph?" He laughed, rolling on the mat, his eyes watering.

Sephiroth frowned at him and put the cup on the grass.

"Daddy!" Miley repeatedly called, running to him and holding her dirty hands out. "Play wi' me!" It was a simple demand, and Sephiroth still had a disgusting taste in his mouth.

"No." Sephiroth replied. His reply was sudden and slightly muffled as he had a finger and thumb in his mouth trying to pull what he thought was a dead ant from between his back teeth.

"No' e'en the kill Uncwle Zack game?"

Zack suddenly stopped laughing. "What?" He asked. Pushing himself onto his arms in time to see the father and daughter's evil looking faces.

He found himself begging for mercy as he was pounced on and tickled by Miley while Sephiroth held him down.

Yes, other than disgusting food Sephiroth could use more days like this.


	19. Chapter 16

"Going back 'see Auntie Gil'an soon?" **(Are we going back to see Auntie Gillian soon?) **Miley asked Genesis an hour into their journey back to Midgar.

It was the day they were travelling home, they had said goodbye to Gillian and tried to explain to Miley that they were going home, but she couldn't seem to understand, in her young mind Banora was her new home, just like she had been moved from the Labs to the Shinra Building.

"We've already told you, Goddess," Genesis said, lifting her onto his lap. "We've said farewell to everyone in Banora, and now it is time to go home."

Genesis and Miley were sitting at the front of the boat on the front row of long benches. The scenery was beautiful, even though the sky was grey, darkening and blustery with threats of rain, in fact, Genesis had put is book back in his red leather pocket when a few heavy drops landed on the page.

Sitting on his lap Miley leant her head against him and sighed. "I'm bored!" She whined.

"You can always go inside with Zack and the others."

"Bu' I'm bored in there!"

Genesis smiled. "You should find something to do then."

With a heavy sigh Miley scrambled off his lap and toddled towards the silver railings, swaying a bit with the boat.

"Move away from the railing!" He called out to her, noticing that she was small enough to slip between the bars.

Smiling cheekily and looking at him, Miley shook her head, choosing to back closer to them until she was touching them.

"I'm not playing, Miley." He said seriously with a placid face.

All Miley did was smile again and shake her head.

"Do you want me to get your father?"

Those words were enough; Miley walked towards him and lifted her arms so that she would be picked up.

They walked inside as the rain became heavier.

Zack was on his seventeenth squatting exercise when Genesis and Miley joined them.

"Don't pull on my earring." He heard Genesis say as Miley flicked, tugged and generally played with his long pointed earring in his left ear.

Miley stopped and turned her head to see Sephiroth, sitting in a seat by the window, sleeping. His head was pushed against the cold glass and his legs were crossed, as were his arms as he breathed lightly.

"Daddy sleeping!" **(Father is asleep!) **She shouted loudly, pointing at him.

Sephiroth didn't' wake, only twitched.

Angeal, who was sat behind Sephiroth smiled at Miley and held a finger to his lips. "That's right Miley, and he wants to stay that way. _Shh…_"

Miley was lowered to the floor, and, after observing Zack's exercises, decided to try and copy him, finding it harder than it actually looked as she fell on the floor multiple times.

"He's still no good?" Genesis asked, sitting next to Angeal.

Angeal shook his head. "It's made him tired."

"Whoever thought — that Sephiroth — would feel — like that!" Zack said as he grunted, squatting up and down.

Miley had given up and was sat on the floor watching him, her head moving up and down as her eyes followed him.

"He's still human, Zack." Angeal reminded him. "What should be a happy day isn't so happy for him."

Zack stopped and stood up, scratching his neck. "Shouldn't we… I don't know, get him something?"

"Certainly not!" Genesis replied. "It would only upset him more."

"What w'ong wi' my daddy!?" **(what is wrong with my daddy!?)** Miley shouted.

Zack lifted Miley up and was about to reply when Angeal spoke.

"This that and the other." He said.

"Oh." The answer seemed to be enough for her. "If daddy was a bunzy wubbit, I'd give him lots'a cawwots!" **(If daddy was a rabbit I would give him a lot of carrots!)**

Zack laughed. "Would you?"

Miley nodded.

"Would you two be quiet? Zack, why don't you take Miley back outside?" Angeal asked as Genesis read LOVELESS to himself, not out loud for a change.

Zack sighed. "It's raining out there."

"Waining!" Miley shouted loudly, loudly enough for Sephiroth to stir in his sleep; uncross his arms and move his hand to rest on the window under his face. He slept with a frown, his sleep had been disturbed, and as Angeal ushered Zack and Miley outside his face softened.

After quite a while, Sephiroth opened his eyes and saw that he was alone. A large white balloon was tied to the seat in front of him, floating high on a string.

He could hear laughter outside, at the front of the boat.

After wiping the sleep from his face and walking outside, he smiled at the sight.

It was sunny, but the deck was wet with rain, and Katie stood with Miley pointing at the passing scenery, telling her stories of how she had been there on several missions.

Genesis was sat on a dry seat reading LOVELESS aloud, and Angeal was telling Zack that if he ate too many crisps he'd be seasick.

Walking into the warmth of their friendship, Miley ran to him, demanding to be picked up.

"M-mummy saided tha' she bee'd there!" **(Mummy said that she went there!) **Miley said loudly, pointing at the large mossy mountain they were passing. It was a part of Wutai, Sephiroth and the others, excluding Zack, had climbed it on a number of occasions.

"Yes, but it was more dangerous than it looks."

Genesis smiled and snapped his book closed. "I don't' think we'll ever forget how Angeal was chased by that Edgehead."

"Why did you have to mention that?" Angeal complained.

"What? What happened?" Zack demanded to know.

Katie stood up from her crouched position and smiled. "We were climbing that mountain." She pointed up to the large mountain looming overhead.

"We were… Angeal was…" Sephiroth was unsure of how to explain it.

"Trampolined, zonked and blottoed!" Katie said loudly.

Sephiroth smiled at her and wrapped one of his arms around her waist. "Is that the best you could say?" He said with a laugh in his voice.

"You mean he was drunk?" Zack said.

"Blind drunk." Genesis corrected. "He'd had a few too many Wutian grapes."

"Uh… Grapes?"

"Wutian grapes are purely alcoholic." Katie explained. "And Angeal had a bunch too many. Anyway, we were helping him up the mountain when we were attacked by about five Edgehead's. We left him to fight them off and then we heard screaming." She burst into laughter and Sephiroth let go of her waist.

"He was attempting to run, I repeat the word attempting, as a tiny Edgehead chased after him." Genesis finished.

Zack roared with laughter until he was promptly sick over the boats edge.

Angeal sighed and shook his head. "I told you."

Sephiroth smiled and laughed a little, then turned to stare back at Katie's beautiful pale face. Her long blond hair was loosely tied back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a peach nude wrap dress, it had sleeves down to her elbows and a low rounded neck, but showed no cleavage as she was quite slender and almost flat chested. The skirt of the dress was raised at the front by several inches.

"When can have baby 'ister?" **(When can I have my baby sister?)** Miley asked loudly.

Katie smiled and laid a hand on her rather large and rounded middle. "Soon, very soon."

"'Morrow?" **(Tomorrow?)**

Katie smiled and shook her head. "In October. Three months and a bit."

Sephiroth smiled again. "And remember, you might have a younger brother."

Miley shook her head and stomped her foot. "NO! I want a 'ister!" **(No! I want a sister!)**

Sephiroth smiled and lifted her up. "And I want a son, but unfortunately we have to make do with what nature gives us."

"Sephiroth!" Katie sighed loudly at him, rubbing circles on her stomach.

He smiled back at her. "But, of course, I'll be happy with whoever we have."

The rest of the journey was very easy going, Miley kept asking about her new baby sister and Sephiroth kept giving her very brief replies, until the ship made a brief stop at Costa Del Sol. Where Katie and Sephiroth grabbed their bags and left the boat.

"Be a good girl for you uncle's!" Katie called up at her as the ship began to leave the dock.

"I will!" Miley called back.

Sephiroth and Katie watched the boat until it disappeared.

"They'll be fine." Sephiroth said, feeling Katie start to panic.

"I know, I know! But I can't help but worry…"

Turning to her, Sephiroth smiled. "If we _do _have a girl, how about naming her Coralline?"

Katie smiled. "Coralline Frost… I like it!"

Taking each others hands, they turned to walk away; it was at that moment when Sephiroth felt like he was falling.

His eyes flew open before he could reach the ground, and he found himself sitting inside the boat, rain pouring outside, and surrounded by his friends and daughter.

"Daddy's awake!" Miley shouted, she was sitting on Zack's shoulders and pulled on his spikes as she shouted.

"No surprise there the racket you two are making!" Angeal scolded the two of them.

"Are you feeling any better?" Genesis, who was sat behind Sephiroth asked.

Sephiroth was unsure of how to answer. "I had… a rather surprising dream… The boat sailed past Wutai, Angeal was chased by an Edgehead, and Miley let us finish an entire conversation while Zack was sick…"

Zack laughed, Angeal snorted, and Genesis smiled.

It was at that moment when Sephiroth remembered what was written on the white balloon.

_Happy Anniversary!_


	20. Bonus Chapter: To the Supermarket!

Thank you all so much for your reviews, favourites and Private Messages! I feel so loved. I'm much better than I was so thought it's about time I get back to writing!

Hope you enjoy the proof that I'm not dead!

Usually the day Sephiroth returned home from Banora, or any holiday, was very relaxing. He would unpack, have a soak in a hot bath, put on his cosiest pyjamas, and lounge around with a mug of rich tasting coffee after stealing some fresh milk from someone easily intimidated by his presence, and order takeaway for a late dinner. He would watch television, then read a good book in bed before going to sleep thoroughly relaxed…

"DADDY!"

However, that no longer seemed to be his ritual.

"What now?" Sephiroth sighed, still trying to hang the same shirt up after ten minutes of darting here and there.

Miley was stood in his doorway with her large eyes wide open as she stared at him.

It was a curious expression, and Sephiroth was not sure if he liked it or not. "What?"

She had never seen her father dressed so casually. Dark blue jeans and a black hoodie, something no one would think of suiting him, but it did, and so much so that Miley hardly recognised him.

"You look funny and I'm firfty!" **(You look really funny and I'm thirsty!)**

"What happened to your glass of water?"

"Tha' was Pancake's d'ink." **(That was Pancake's drink.)**

He frowned. "I didn't make _Pancake_ a drink, I made _you_ a drink, so drink it."

Miley shook her head. "NO!"

"Why not?"

"Don' likes it…" **(I do not like water…)**

"Tough luck." Sephiroth said moodily, finally managing to hang the shirt up.

The unpacking was now finished, and as he briefly thought of going shopping a loud cry reached his ears.

He turned around to see Miley jumping up and down screeching and whining. Pancake had been thrown to the floor and she looked like she was about to join him down there.

"STOP IT!" He demanded with such authority in his tone that a First Class Soldier would have stopped and probably wet himself in fear, but unfortunately this did not affect Miley.

Miley threw herself onto her front and then screeched as she was lifted by one of her pigtails and her upper arm. She refused to stand on her feet but stopped screaming upon seeing her fathers glare.

"Stop it." He growled, and Miley did.

He handed Miley Pancake and then stood up, walking out the room with Miley chasing after him with her arms outstretched.

Sephiroth walked into Miley's room, ignoring her completely as she caught up to him and danced around his legs with her arms still held up to him, looking like she was doing some sort of crazed and desperate rain dance.

Sephiroth lifted her up and struggled to put her on the bed when she latched onto his neck and refused to be let down. But after managing it he put some shoes on her, followed by one of her cardigans and after a while he walked out the door with her, not saying a word the entire time.

"Where going?" **(Where are we going?)** Miley asked once they were outside the building.

"Shopping." Sephiroth replied, putting his hood up to avoid _some_ recognition.

"Toys!" Miley squealed with an excited face.

"No."

"_Awww_…"

Feeling Miley getting ready to come to a standstill Sephiroth spoke quickly. "You can buy toys when we're on vacation, in Costa del Sol and the Gold Saucer, remember?"

Miley's growing tantrum stopped and she nodded happily, her footsteps quickening to keep up with his.

Anyone who thought of the Great General walking around a supermarket tended to giggle and hurry to stop themselves, the thought of Sephiroth looking at packages, searching for the next thing on the list and then queuing up to pay was a funny thought, but Sephiroth did do this on occasion, and now with even more dread than before.

Miley was sat in the seat of a trolley with Pancake sat next to her as she was carted around the supermarket.

"Pancake want sweeties…" Miley said as she was parked by the dairy products with the sweet and pastry isle behind her.

Sephiroth put two large bottles of milk, butter and some cheese into the cart. "How unfortunate for Pancake…" he scanned the isle for anything else he might want or need.

"I want sweeties too!"

"Do you really?" He pushed the trolley into the frozen food section and opened one of the fridges. He pulled a box of something out and put it in the trolley before walking to another fridge, gradually he was getting further and further away.

"Daddy huwwys up I getting cold!" **(Daddy hurry up I am getting cold!)**

Sephiroth smiled a little but continued to ignore Miley as he dug into several freezers.

Becoming very bored Miley was rocking back and forth in the trolley, making it move back and forth as she let out a long vowel that changed pitch as she rocked.

She gasped when Pancake slipped overboard and onto the floor near the wheels. "Daddy! Daddy! Pancake felled down'd!" **(Pancake fell down!) **When there was no reply, no sigh and no sound of nearby shuffling Miley began to panic. "Daddy?"

Sephiroth had walked into the pastry isle to pick up some bread, and as he crossed it off his mental list he was almost run over by a speeding trolley.

"Sorry! Sorry!" The familiar speeder apologised rapidly. "But you know what it's like, one minute your playing racing trolleys with yourself and the next thing you know you're crashing into someone!"

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.

The familiar face peered under Sephiroth's hood. "Or then again maybe you don't…"

"Don't play in the supermarket Zack…" He sighed. "Where's Angeal?"

Zack stopped hunching over the trolley and frowned. "Why do people _always_ think Angeal goes everywhere with me? I have a personal life too, you know!"

"Zack! Come back here with that shopping NOW!" Angeal shouted from the end of the isle.

Zack smiled bashfully. "But Angeal!" He whined. "Seph's here! And he's wearing a hoodie!" He pointed very childishly.

"You've seen Sephiroth in a hoodie before." Angeal walked towards them and took the trolley back from him.

"Yeah! But not for _ages_."

Angeal sighed and lowered his head, maybe he was praying for inner strength and peace of mind…

"Angeal, why don't you keep him on a shorter leash if he keeps running off?"

Angeal smiled a little. "What size do Miley's child reigns go up to?"

"Miley! Where's Miley? Where's my cute bundle of joy?"

Sephiroth looked very confused. "You seem more hyperactive than usual, Zack."

Angeal sighed again. "He drank a two litre bottle of cola and three espressos."

As Sephiroth pulled a face Zack began to hop from foot to foot. "And I really need to 'go' now!"

"Go? What do you mean go?"

"I mean GO!" He ran out of the isle and around a corner, searching for the toilets… again.

Angeal hung his head and Sephiroth began to chuckle. "I can relate to what you're feeling." He said.

There were a series of loud crashes and Angeal hurried away. " ZACK! What have you done now?!"

Sephiroth smirked again, but the smile on his face didn't laugh when he heard a screeching coming from the next isle.

"DADDY!" Miley screamed and sobbed as she tried to climb out of the trolley. "I WANT OUT!" The crying grew louder. "I WAN' OUT _NOW_!" She had gotten one of her legs over the bar and was trying to push herself up.

"Miley! Sit down and stop screaming!" Sephiroth demanded as he stood in front of her.

Miley lifted her arms up to him and he lifted her out of the trolley so he could readjust her legs.

"P-Pancake on the floor!"

Sephiroth growled as he lifted the plush toy up and handed it to Miley, she took hold of it but also had a firm grip on Sephiroth and had her legs wrapped around him, screaming every time he tried to lower her back into her seat.

"Sit down!"

"NO!" Miley screamed, holding onto him all the more. "No! No! No!" She shook her head and her pigtails kept swatting him in the face.

Sephiroth set her down on the floor, when she curled up on her front and bawled, screaming and crying like never before.

Sephiroth was baffled; he'd never _really_ had to deal with one of Miley's tantrums, for the simple sake that she'd never had a full blown one. So he did the only thing he could think of. He walked away and pretended he was no relation of hers. Even when she chased after him he didn't stop, but felt pretty much like running away and out of sight, unfortunately, after ten minutes of ignoring her, and the cries fading away, Sephiroth turned around to find his two year old missing, and then reality hit him like the ton of cans Zack had knocked over.

When Sephiroth had thought of running away and losing Miley it had only been a passing thought, he hadn't meant to actually do it!

As he began to search for her with a panicked heart and mind, Miley was standing in a corner, hugging Pancake and looking very lost and confused when a large mans shadow stood over her and held out a large hand.

"Come with me and we'll get some sweets."


	21. Bonus Chapter: Let Them Eat Cake!

Sephiroth left the shopping trolley in the frozen food section while he hurried around, up and down escalators and around tills, scanning every inch for his missing daughter, also keeping his ears on alert for any familiar cry he could hear.

"Sephiroth?" The voice sounded distant as Sephiroth pushed clothes on hangers aside to see if anyone small enough was hiding behind them. "Sephiroth!"

He quickly turned his head and had a frantic look on his face. "What's wrong?" Angeal asked him, looking concerned and worried. "Come on, we'll go into the café and talk."

"She's gone."

"Miley's gone?"

"She had a tantrum so I walked away. I thought of losing her but it wasn't supposed to happen!"

Angeal nodded and tried to be as calm as he could be. "We'll find Miley first, and then we can focus on your useless brain."

Sephiroth would have snapped, but decided that he could get his own back later.

They walked along in silence, scanning every area. "Where's Zack?" Sephiroth asked.

"I lost him… accidentally on purpose."

Sephiroth almost smirked.

Miley was standing by the till with the man who had promised her sweets, staring up at him as he paid for his few pieces of shopping. "You saided we have sweeties!" **(You said I could have sweets!)**

He didn't reply.

"I wan' sweeties now!"

"You can have sweets in a minute… _We have to go to the car first though_." He stressed, and Miley seemed content with the answer.

"Did you speak to any of the staff?" Angeal asked, becoming worried himself.

Sephiroth shook his head. "By all fairness would you?"

Angeal looked confused.

"Would you tell a member of staff that you'd lost Zack?"

Angeal frowned, becoming angry and fed up with Sephiroth. "Miley is two! Sephiroth! Zack is fifteen! Sixteen in five months! There's a difference!"

"What difference? They're both young, irritating, irritable and prone to tantrums!"

"There's a thirteen year difference, when you speak to shop staff about a missing child you have to give a description. Miley, small, blond, big blue eyes, skinny and malnourished, about three foot four inches, two years old. Zack, tall for his age, black spiky hair, blue eyes, and well muscled for his age and five foot eleven inches, fifteen years old! _Go and talk to a staff member_!"

Sephiroth was watching Angeal out the corner of his eye and sighed, sticking his nose in the air he walked away. "Don't talk to your commanding officer that way, remember, _you_ are my _inferior, Soldier_."

Angeal frowned. "Do you want to find your daughter before some depraved pervert does?"

Sephiroth kept a neutral face. "She is also my inferior."

"She's not a member of Soldier."

"By papers she belongs to Hojo, she is Shinra's property; she's not even on the same level as Soldier. Why should I, a General, be shopping, dealing with tantrums, giving goodnight kisses and watching the Teletubbies just to have some peace?!"

Angeal recognised this change, Sephiroth had done this since he was young, and only his deceased wife knew how to deal with it. When Sephiroth felt afraid he felt inferior, and the only way he knew how to overcome it was to state his rank and assert his authority.

'_What would Katie have done_?'

Angeal sighed and walked away. "Then you don't deserve her."

Miley sighed, bored as she kicked her legs up and down in the back seat of the moving car.

"Why I not sit up?"

Miley was half lying down, out of sight to anyone who might look through the car window, as she had been told to lye.

"Because I don't have a child seat." The car stopped at the traffic lights and he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "If the cops pull us over or talk to us, tell them I'm your daddy."

"Bu' you're not!"

"It's just pretend for now."

Sephiroth was now on his own, walking around ignoring his ringing phone, which he had now turned off without looking at the caller, he didn't even care if it was Shinra.

He had searched the entire shop now and was searching the same places once again.

Angeal had found Zack, down the pet food isle for some reason, and told him to search for Miley.

"Our cute little Miley's missing?" Zack gasped. "For how long?"

"I was searching with Sephiroth for an hour… He lost sight of her long before that."

Zack growled and his hands turned into fists. "That stupid idiot! What was he thinking?"

"Growl later, sniff around now!"

Zack ran off, calling out Miley's name as he searched for her.

Miley was in a nice apartment as the man unpacked his shopping in his kitchen, putting everything in its correct place. Everything was sickeningly clean and perfectly placed.

After hearing her let out a bored sigh the man turned around and smiled. "If you're bored go into the bedroom, I'll be there in a minute." He pointed to the living room where Miley walked to and then to the door at the end of the room, only just out of his sight.

Angeal found Sephiroth continuing to search with a hardened face, but no one could harden their eyes, and Sephiroth was panic stricken.

"The puppy's sniffing around. He'll howl if he finds anything."

Sephiroth tried to look appreciative, but it was harder than it looked. "We'll have one more look around, and then we'll talk to the staff and start looking outside."

Sephiroth nodded and walked down the clothing isle again.

They searched the supermarket thoroughly for the next forty minutes and then stopped.

"I don't think she's here." Sephiroth said.

"Have you tried the café?"

"She won't be in there."

"Why not?"

"…"

"We'll try it anyway!"

So they walked up the escalator again and into the Costa Café, where Sephiroth's breath hitched when he saw Miley sitting at a table in a plastic booster seat, drinking a strawberry milkshake and eating a large slice of chocolate cake, most of which was smeared over hear face and down the front of her dress. "Daddy!" She squealed, fell off her seat and ran to him.

Sephiroth was unsure of what to do, part of him wanted to hit her, the other half wanted to hug her forever.

He decided to pick her up and decide what he was going to do once she was in his arms, he would either hug her or throw her over the glass fence and into the vegetable isle on the floor below.

"I found you!" She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, leaving a chocolate smudge there (had Zack been there it might have been called a chocolate kiss). She then tried to become as strict as her father. She let go of his neck and tried to keep her balance while putting her hands on her hips and frowning. "You getted losteded!"

"I got lost?" Sephiroth snarled angrily.

"Sephiroth…" Angeal warned him.

Sephiroth turned to glare at Angeal. Miley wriggled out of his arms and sat back on her seat. "Daddy down!" Miley called, pointing at the empty seat next to her.

Sephiroth actually did as he was told and sat next to Miley, glaring at Genesis who was sat opposite him. "Thank you for telling me you'd found her!"

"I tried phoning you, texting you and searching for you." Angeal sat next to him and stared angrily at Zack who was trying to hide behind Miley.

"_You were supposed to howl!" _He mouthed at him.

"_Sorry! There was cake!" _Zack mouthed back, unwilling to leave his safe spot.

"I-I have'd a wide wi' Uncwle Gen'sis and now have sweeties!" **(I had a ride with Uncle Genesis and now I am eating sweeties!)**

Sephiroth frowned. "A ride?"

"The food was going to defrost, so I took her home with me and now we're back."

"Took her home with you!?"

"What was she doing on her own anyway?"

"Enough!" Angeal interrupted, not willing to let their voices get any louder. "Miley is safe, yes, she was taken by a sick pervert but luckily she's not old enough to be his type."

Genesis frowned. "I am not a sick pervert, Angeal."

Zack nodded. "Yes you are!" Miley looked at him crouching behind her chair and giggled. "I've seen your magazines and used your computer!"

Genesis almost blushed, but he was too headstrong for that. "I simply enjoy the creative arts of LOVELESS."

"Since when are the main characters all women and naked?"

"Zack! There are young ears present!" Angeal shouted.

Zack shook his head. "You're not that young!" He gulped when he was glared at. "Besides! Miley doesn't know what we're talking abou—!" A squashed piece of chocolate cake was shoved into his open mouth, silencing him.

Miley clapped her hands together to brush the crumbs and fudge off. "Shu' up Uncwle Zack!"

Miley giggled and laughed when Sephiroth stroked her hair and then leant in to put his arm around her. "You've never made me so proud." He said and then kissed her cheek, making her laugh loudly.

Zack frowned at him but said nothing as he continued to chew the cake in his mouth. He reached out to take another piece and yelped when Miley stabbed him in the hand with a fork.

Miley looked down at the broken plastic fork, the broken pieces where stuck in Zack's hand. "Uncwle Zack bweaked my aldigator…" **(Uncle Zack broke my alligator…) **No one knew why, but according to Miley's infinite wisdom all cutlery were called alligators.

She seemed to ignore Zack and turned to look up at Sephiroth. "Cuddles and kisses at night time!"

Sephiroth tilted his head to the side. "You always get… _cuddles and kisses_ as night time." He grit his teeth as he spoke, resenting what he felt was baby talk.

Miley shook her head. "NO! Cuddles and kisses at night time!"

"Do you mean you only get cuddles and kisses at night time, Miley?" Angeal asked her.

Miley nodded. "Yeah!"

Sephiroth knew where this conversation was going to go now, Zack and Angeal were giving him _that look_, and Genesis just looked sadistic as usual.

Genesis smirked and cleared his voice. "I think your father's going to give you a lot more cuddles and kisses… I think he's going to give you another one _right now_."

Miley smiled up at Sephiroth expectantly.

"No I'm not."

Miley pouted. "Daddy! I 'ike cuddles and kisses!" A quick peck on the cheek was all she got, but it was enough.

The shopping expedition ended much later than Sephiroth had expected it to for obvious reasons. But after a latte and an espresso his returning anger towards Miley and Genesis disappeared, even when he heard Miley call Genesis 'daddy'… she was so confused.

Now all Sephiroth wanted was a long, relaxing hot bath and a quick but delicious meal… in that order. But it seemed that wasn't in Miley's plan.

Full and messy from eating cake Miley was pushed into the bath with her rubber ducks and a lot of bubble bath.

Sephiroth did think of waiting for Miley to go to bed before getting in the bath himself, but Miley would no doubt wake up and start looking for him, so he did something he vowed he would never do.

Miley looked up confused as her father began undressing as discreetly as he could. "Wha' doing?" **(What are you doing?)**

"Getting ready to have a bath."

"'Ike Uncwle Zack does?"

Sephiroth nodded. "Yes… like Uncle Zack does."

It was a well known fact that Zack shared a bath with Miley when he babysat her. Angeal was sure it was just an excuse to play with her bath toys… he even did all the voices.

Sephiroth tried to get into the bath as decently as he could. He had wrapped a towel around his lower half to avoid any privates being stared at before they were immersed and hidden in bubbles.

He tried to sit down slowly, but lost his footing on a bar of soap, slipped and fell the rest of the way in, sitting on the hard head of a plastic duck, which was so painful and surprising that the 'Great Sephiroth' almost gave an unmanly yelp.

Miley laughed loudly. The splash from Sephiroth landing had covered her and the floor in bubbles and water, she got ready to splash him but was stopped when he leant forwards and grabbed both her hands.

"Don't. You. Dare." All was silent until the duck he had been sat on popped up with a squeak and bobbed up and down through the bubbles.

Miley sat in Sephiroth (still covered) lap as he washed her hair. She splashed two of her ducks up and down in the water and made herself a beard of bubbles, but for the first time, when Sephiroth poured a plastic bucket of water over her head to get rid of the shampoo, she cried… loudly.

"Did I get bubbles in your eyes?" He asked her.

Miley shook her head and rubbed the tears from her eyes. "D-didn' 'ike tha'!" **(I did not like that!)**

Sephiroth ignored her, and as he began doing his hair, Miley stopped crying and crawled to the other end of the bath.

Sephiroth did resent her at that moment, why did she get the comfy end of the bath? He had his back pressed into the hot and cold tap and was sure he would have a blister tomorrow.

Miley watched him pour the shampoo into his hand.

"Lots!" She stated.

Sephiroth had almost half the bottle in his hand. "I have lots of hair."

"Why?"

"Because I like it."

"… Mummy have long hair? …Daddy! Mummy have long hair?"

Sephiroth didn't reply.

Getting dried was harder than usual, but he did manage it without becoming indecent, and then managed to get Miley dried without getting his nightclothes wet.

Beauty and the Beast was played on the television in the living room while he ate a simple meal of tomato pasta… and Miley was sat on his lap insisting he sing along with her to all the songs. Sephiroth refused, and would never admit he liked the song 'Be Our Guest'.

"Story time." Sephiroth said once the film was over and the washing up was done.

Miley happily went with him into her room. She didn't mind being tucked in and told a story, it was the going to sleep bit she hated.

"When we go home?"

Sephiroth was confused. "We are home?"

Miley shook her head. "No! When go home?"

"Where Auntie Gillian is?"

Miley nodded.

Sephiroth sighed. "Miley, that was only for a while, this is still home."

"No." She insisted, so Sephiroth got on with the story.

"NO!" Miley shouted for the umpteenth time.

"I am NOT doing the voices." Miley kept telling him to 'do it like Uncle Zack does', but Sephiroth had no skill at voicing a gormless princess about to prick her finger.

Miley crossed her arms. "Shu' up daddy!"

Sephiroth frowned. "Don't say that! It's bad behaviour! I'll stop the story now if you say it again." He began reading again.

"Shu' up daddy!" He glared at her, Miley giggled and hid under the covers.

"This is not a game." He slapped the book shut, stood up and turned off the light, leaving only Miley's pink glitter lamp to light up the room. "Goodnight."

"DADDY!" Miley shrieked, running after him.

She was put back to bed time and time again until she was exhausted enough to sleep.

When she next awoke she walked into the living room and found that it was dark, everything was off and Sephiroth was sleeping in his bedroom. She could hear his light snoring.

Sephiroth was sleeping on his back and rolled over. His eyes snapped open when he got tangled in his own hair, which was because Miley was sleeping on it next to him, sucking on a handful of it in her sleep.

Sephiroth pulled his hair away from her, wincing as she moaned and whined, and flipped it over the side of the bed. He didn't want his hair laid on and definitely didn't want to wake up tomorrow and find his daughter had choked on it.

It had been a long time since the other side of the bed had been slept in. and Sephiroth couldn't help but be filled with sadness that it was.

'_This child should be lying between YOU and me…' _He thought; drifting to sleep as one of his hands gripped the pink nightdress hidden inside his pillow case.


End file.
